Come back, be here
by leah.sydnee
Summary: What would happen if James realized his mistakes right after the incident with Snape? What would that mean for him and Lily? Can they make it through the threats and the impending war with their friends still by their sides and their relationship intact?
1. Missing

"Where is she?" Hestia asked in a concerned whisper to Marlene and Alice, whose heads were both turning to look down the Gryffindor table for the missing auburn-haired girl.

"She can't miss the feast!" Alice said seriously, smacking her hand down on the table.

"Well she can't," she said a little softer after taking in the two girls expressions.

Hestia sighed again.

"I bet those idiots would know where she is," Marlene said, motioning to the four boys a little ways down from them who were huddled over the table, deep in conversation in low voices.

"Considering one of them practically tracks her every movement, I'm sure they would," Alice agreed before pushing out from the table, Marlene and Hestia following suit.

"Everything is in place right?" James asked, eyeing each of his friend's down as he did. Each of the Marauders in turn gave him a nod, indicating that everything was indeed in position.

"Ok, well now all we have to do is—WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Sirius yelled, jumping off the bench in protest just as Marlene released his oh so perfect mane from her grip.

"Getting your attention," Marlene answered with a smirk, looking way too happy for the Marauders liking. "Oh stop whining," she said after a while, shoving Sirius back down in his seat.

Sirius just glared at her, while the other Marauders looked at the girls expectantly.

"Where is she, Potter?" Alice demanded, starring down the raven-haired, be speckled boy who appeared to be shrinking in his seat.

James' eyes had grown wide, darting away from Alice's gaze and instead towards his utensils which suddenly looked like the most interesting things in the world.

"She's not here," Sirius said rather idiotically after quickly glancing around the hall.

"Well no freaking duh," Marlene practically yelled whilst smacking the boy upside the head.

"What he means to say," Remus cut in, trying to diffuse the tension, "is that we haven't seen her since the, uh, event earlier today," he finished, his eyes continuing the dart between the two parties.

"What event?" Hestia asked to the general population.

The Marauders all looked elsewhere.

"Well they're useless," Marlene concluded after a few moments, spinning on her heel to look at the other two.

"Hey, Frank just came in, maybe he knows?" Hestia suggested.

"Worth a shot, Alice, go ask your boy-toy where Lily is," Marlene said, shoving the small girl off in the direction of the entrance of the Great Hall. Marlene and Hestia waited a little ways away from the couple, who talked dramatically before Alice came rushing back to them.

"Well?" Hestia asked eagerly, while Alice caught her breath.

"He doesn't know where she is," Alice said, causing the other two to groan. "But," she tried to add quickly, "he did tell me that Potter and them taunted Snape again today, except this time when Lily stepped in to stop them, Snape turned on her. Called her a you-know-what, when he did it too. She sniped back at him obviously but she hasn't been seen since that. Oh, and Potter tried to get her to go out with him again, thinking that since she saw Snape's real side she'd give him a chance. Frank reckons they're both a little broken from the whole thing."

"Potter? Broken? That's a joke" Marlene laughed whilst the other two rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, my boyfriend is hilarious," Alice mocked, "but come on, we have to find Lily. Now."

"Ok, ok," Marlene said, trying to get Alice's hand off of her arm as she was getting dragged out of the Great Hall.

"Split up?" Hestia suggested, to which the others agreed with a shrug.

"Be back here in 15, each of us will take a wing," Alice stated, checking her watch.

"Oh and Marlene," she added just as Marlene was headed up the stairs to the north wing, "Don't beat the story out of her!"

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

><p>"Lily?" Hestia's calm voice rang out through the deserted old charms corridor where their classes were first year.<p>

She poked her head into one of the classrooms to see it as empty as the rest just as the 15-minute mark was coming to a close.

"Hestia?"

She spun on her heel, sprinting down to the end of the hall to where the auburn haired girl had just come out from around the corner. Hestia ran straight into her best friend, enveloping her in a tight hug, trying to brush out Lily's soft curls as she did.

"What are you doing up here?" Lily asked, once they split apart after a few moments.

"Looking for you obviously," Hestia said, straightening Lily's tie up.

"Now, what are you doing?" Lily half laughed, half sobbed.

"You can't go into the feast looking like, well this. You can't give either of them that satisfaction. You're Lily Evans for crying out loud!" Hestia said grinning, looping her arm in Lily's and dragging her friend back towards the entrance hall.

"You're right," Lily smiled, leaning into her best friend.

"So why here?" Hestia asked, looking back down the corridor.

Lily shrugged, "It was secluded, and far away from everyone and everything I guess."

"And because this is where you and Severus used to come," Hestia added insightfully, giving her friend a small smile. "He's sorry, you know," Hestia said comfortingly.

"I don't think he is," Lily said softly, her voice wavering. "He calls everyone else like me a mudblood, it was just a matter of time before he reduced me to that status too."

"Maybe," Hestia contemplated, "but he wasn't the person I was talking about…"

"Who else would be-" Lily asked, turning to face her friend, mid staircase. "Hestia!"

"I'm just saying!" Hestia laughed, as they resumed walking, their two friends now visible in the distance. "We asked them first you know, where you were…James wouldn't say anything to us, he couldn't even look Marls in the eyes."

"It doesn't mean he's sorry," Lily sighed, hopping down the last couple of steps. "Hey!" she said, smiling when Marlene and Alice ran towards her, each giving her a hug.

"Where have you been?" Alice asked Lily, hugging her but also whispering over her shoulder to Hestia, "Where did you find her?" to which Hestia just sighed and mouthed "the old wing".

Alice nodded in response and held Lily back at arms length, taking in her swollen eyes.

"He's not worth it anymore, Lils," Marlene said comfortingly, rubbing a hand on Lily's shoulder.

"Let's just go into the feast alright, reckon it's already begun," Lily said, trying to sound happy as she shrugged off her friends and moved on ahead, pausing only at the door to make sure they were coming along as well.

"Do you really think she's alright?" Alice whispered, as they filed in behind Lily and the last few straggling students.

The three of them watched as Lily's eyes fell on Snape and instantly started sprouting tears, despite her best attempt to control them.

"Answer your question?" Marlene asked as she ran up ahead to grip Lily's shoulders and gently lead her towards the one side of the bench.

"Well she looks terrible," Sirius commented as the girl's sat down towards the other end of the table. This earned a slap from James, who couldn't take his eyes off of Lily's swollen eyes.

"I-I have to do something," James said, talking more so to Remus than anyone else.

"Prongs, right now isn't the time," Remus said, clapping his friend on the shoulder. "You'll only feel more rejected, and she will just back further away from you. Give her time to grieve her friendship."

"Yes, o wise one," Sirius said, mocking, but James just looked back to Lily, mulling over Remus' advice and the events earlier that day. He really screwed up.

* * *

><p>The landscape of the highlands quickly transitioned into flatter ground as the Hogwarts Express barreled through the English countryside. In their compartment on the train, Lily, Marlene, Hestia and Alice stretched out across the seats and on the floor, taking turns talking and napping as the journey progressed.<p>

"Lily," Hestia moaned, half asleep curled up on the floor, using her cloak as a pillow.

"No," Lily said shortly, flipping over to face the padded side of the seat.

"Lil, he comes knocking every 5 minutes!" Marlene shouted, but her pillow that her face was buried into muffled the harshness of her voice.

"Oh look, it's the other one," Alice said tiredly as she sat facing the compartment door, noticing their new disturber.

Lily flipped over quickly and sat up, a little disoriented before her eyes took in the figure of James Potter at the door. His eyes lit up a little when their eyes made contact, but Lily's eyes just appeared more tired. She sat up fully, stretching her arms before she moved over to the compartment door.

"Potter, I am begging you, please just leave me alone," Lily said, her eyes tearing up as her emerald eyes met his hazel ones.

He looked at her, taking in her posture and her swollen red eyes. The way her nose was red at its tip and how she kept sniffling as she waited for his response. James looked back up at her, and nodded solemnly before he stuck his hands back in his jean pockets and started off back down the train.

Lily watched as he turned away from her, ruffling his hand through his hair as he moved out of the way of other student's running down the corridor. She sighed, feeling the tears well up in her eyes again just as she went to open the door again.

"Lily!"

She spun around quickly, trying to see who yelled her name, only to see James walking quickly back toward her, until he was an inch away from her face. Lily stumbled back slightly, taken aback by his quick movements, but stopped when he placed his hand over her mouth.

"I'm sorry," he said, almost to quick to hear. "I know you said to leave you alone, and I will, I will. But I need you to know that I've heard you. Every time that you have told me over the past 4 years that I am arrogant, and a bully, I just let it slide in hope that it was just your way of trying to get my attention-"

"It was no-" she rebutted, taking his hand away from her mouth, but he put it back again.

"I need to say this. I let it slide thinking maybe you were just trying to play ball, or whatever that phrase is that the American wizards say. I know now that you weren't though. I get it, and you're right. I am a bully and I'm arrogant and a bunch of other things. I've heard you loud and clear now, so I'll leave you alone now Evans, I mean Lily."

He let his hand fall away from her mouth, looking at her one last time before he walked past her, headed the other way.

Her eyes followed him, watching him trudge back. He stopped not two feet away, turning back to her.

"And I'm sorry. I screwed up. I know that now too."

* * *

><p><em>Note: All J.K Rowling content is hers and I take no credit for it. Please, if you have time review, I'd really like to know what you think. Other than that, thank you for reading, I hope to update soon! <em>


	2. Coming Home

"Here, let me help you," Lily said, rushing over towards one of the doors after having dropped her trunk on the platform.

"Thanks, it's just stuck," the young boy said as he tried to tug the trunk through the doorframe.

"There," she said, smiling once they managed to heave the third year boy's trunk onto the platform. He smiled back at her appreciatively before he rushed off to his parents who greeted him enthusiastically.

Lily sighed leaning over to grab her trunk and her book bag before she perched herself on her tiptoes, scanning the crowd for her parents. She grinned when she saw her father leaning against the back wall of the platform, conversing with Hestia's dad while her mum talked animatedly to Hestia's mother.

"You coming?" Hestia said coming up from behind Lily, bumping her friend's shoulder causing the auburn-haired girl to jump out of fright.

Lily turned and slapped Hestia playfully on the arm before taking the lead and moving through the crowd towards their parents.

"What are the chances that they've already planned all of their outings for the entire summer already?" Hestia joked just before they reached their parents.

"Not only have they planned them all," Lily joked back, "they've planned their get-together's up until the New Year…"

"Lils!" Jonathan Evans exclaimed when Lily was finally in sight, breaking up the girls conversation. He pushed himself off the wall, excusing himself from his prior conversation, striding towards her to envelope her in a giant hug.

Lily buried her head in his chest. "I missed you too, dad."

Mr. Evans took a step back, ruffling Lily's hair before he stepped turning to greet Hestia so his wife could embrace their daughter.

"Hey mum," Lily said into her mum's hair as she hugged the older woman tightly, having missed her greatly over the past few months.

"We've missed you sweetheart," Claire Evans said, placing a kiss on her daughters cheek as she reached to grab Lily's book bag out of her hand, swinging it onto her back. "Ready to go?" she said, looking at both Lily and Jonathan, who both nodded in response.

Lily turned to Hestia before they went their separate ways.

"Send me a letter as soon as you get back, ok?" Hestia said as she squeezed her best-friend tightly.

"You'll be the first, besides we are only going for a couple of weeks while dad has time off," Lily promised picking up her trunk before the two ran through the barrier together.

Hestia looked around, checking that Lily's parents were safely out of hearing range. "Is the wicked witch going too?"

Lily laughed at the irony of that statement. "Yes," she exclaimed, "she's still family… her new boyfriend is joining us as well so I'm told…"

Hestia hugged her again. "Good luck! Try to keep your sanity!" she yelled to Lily before she ran to catch up with her parents.

"I can't promise anything!" Lily yelled back, getting a grin in response from Hestia just before her family went through the station doors.

"Car out front," Jonathan Evans said, putting an arm around Lily's shoulder and taking her trunk from her hand.

Claire took the lead as they winded their way through the station.

Jonathan lowered his voice so only his daughter could hear. "You're going to need to share that luck with me that Hestia bestowed on you. The boyfriend is a whale," he said, causing Lily to burst out in laughter.

Claire turned around to them just as they reached the car. "He's not that bad, Jon!" Claire lectured him half-heartedly before she climbed into the passenger seat.

"Busted," Lily teased her father, who stuck his tongue out at her after he closed the trunk of the car.

She looked back at the station before getting into the car. Lily looked out her window, across the street, her eyes focusing on James Potter who was moving towards a black car, accompanied by an older woman who was smiling at him. He caught her gaze just as he opened his door, nodding in her direction before he hopped in at the same time as her own car was pulling away.

* * *

><p>"It's good to have you home," Jonathan said, placing Lily's trunk at the end of her bed.<p>

"Thanks dad," Lily said, sitting down on the floor to open her trunk and start unpacking some of her belongings. Jonathan smiled at her before he left to go back downstairs, closing her bedroom door behind him.

Lily pulled her muggle clothes out of her trunk moving them to her wardrobe in the corner of her room. Her room was her favourite place in the house. Her walls were a light olive green with a white, gray carpet. A desk sat on the same wall as her bedroom door and it had a bulletin board above it with the Hogwarts crest pinned neatly to the middle whilst Gryffindor pins and one of her old ties pinned around it. Her bed sat in the center of the sidewall and it had her favourite muggle and magical pictures on her bedside table and above her bed in frames. The window on the wall opposite the desk looked out towards the river that divided the Cokesworth neighborhood that she grew up in, her dresser sitting beneath it.

She stood at her window for a moment after pushing the dresser drawers closed. Across the river Lily could see the light flicker on in his bedroom. Her eyes looked down to the carvings in the windowsill that she had dug in all those summers ago. Her hand instinctively reached towards the flashlight that sat on the corner of the dresser but stopped midway, remembering the events of only a couple of days ago.

"You just got back, can't you just be here for a while?" a voice asked sadly from the door.

Lily spun around to see Petunia standing in the doorway. She smiled before moving across the room to give her sister a hug. Petunia was taken aback at the sudden gesture but eventually moved to wrap her arms around her sister briefly.

"Mum wanted you to come downstairs for dinner," Petunia said, a little bit of the bitterness that Lily was accustomed to coming through in her voice.

Lily nodded, closing her bedroom door behind her before she followed Petunia down the stairs.

"How is he?" Lily asked hesitantly, trying to make the small talk the sisters were accustomed to.

"Vernon is doing very well," Petunia bragged as they trudged through the parlor into the kitchen. "Just started at his new firm on Tuesday actually, they make drills," she continued as if it was the most thrilling thing in the world.

Lily sat down in her chair at the table, chuckling a little when she caught sight of her dad rolling his eyes at the bit about the Drill Company.

The doorbell rang just as Claire finished putting the final dishes down on the table. Lily moved to get up, but sat back down as soon as she saw the blur of Petunia rush by.

"Did you know he was coming?" Jonathan asked to Claire, who shook her head and moved to add an extra table to their already jammed packed table.

The three Evans sat in silent, listening into the conversation happening in the front foyer.

"Does she always sound so… lovey?" Lily asked, reaching for the salad tongs, dishing some out onto her plate.

"Lily!" Claire exclaimed, laughing. "But yes, that's what her voice sounds like around him," she said, shaking her head as she did showing her distaste for the new persona her eldest daughter had taken on.

"Here they come…" Jonathan said in a low voice, warning the two women of the couple's impending entrance. Mr. Evans stood up as Vernon came into the kitchen, followed by Petunia. He shook the younger man's hand before sitting back down.

Claire smiled at Vernon Dursley, greeting him and passing him a plate.

"Is this her?" Vernon asked Petunia who nodded. Vernon moved to extend his hand to Lily across the table, who took it hesitantly.

"It's nice to meet you," she said smiling.

Vernon just nodded before sitting down and piling various foods onto his plate.

Lily looked to her dad who just shrugged at her before digging into his own meal.

* * *

><p><em>Note: All the recognizable J.K. Rowling content is all hers and I take no credit for it. Thanks to those who have read my story so far, I hope you enjoyed this next chapter! I will update very soon! Please take time to review, if you have time! <em>


	3. Unacceptable

"Is that her?"

James tore his eyes away from the car that she was in as it drove down Euston Road.

"What?" he asked, turning to face his mum who was sitting on the other side of the Ministry car as it pulled away from the curb to join the heavy traffic outside of King's Cross.

"The girl in the car that you were just watching," Emma Potter chuckled, "is that her?"

"That's Lily," James said fondly, but shook his head a few moments afterwards recalling the events that had taken place over the past few days. "Dad working?"

Emma looked at her son, taking notice of his change of conversation but decided to let it slide. "Yes," she said softly, turning to look out the window. "Not sure where he is, the minister wanted him back in the field."

She looked across at her son, whose demeanor changed with her last statement. "But," she said, a smile flashing across her face, "I got this today." James looked at the official ministry letter that she had gripped in her left hand. "He'll be home tonight."

James smiled at the news before he fell asleep for the remainder of the ride home. He awoke suddenly a few hours later when the car jerked as it rolled over the potholes that signaled the drive that led to the Potter's countryside home.

"Knew that would wake you," Emma teased, gathering her bag and the papers she had spread out around the back seat.

James stuck his tongue out at her before sliding out of the back seat and moving around to the back to collect his trunk from the driver who gave him a curt nod before getting back in the car and driving back down the roadway.

He moved quickly to lug his trunk up the front steps into the foyer. The moment he stepped inside he felt better than he had been in days—he was finally home.

He took a second to take in the manor with it's sweeping staircase and granite floors. The tall ceilings and portraits that lined the walls. James remembered all the times that he would slide down the staircase railings when he was young and run straight into his mother's or father's arms when they came home from a mission. He laughed when he thought of all the shoe marks that he and Sirius had to clean over the past few summer's when they would come in from the Quidditch pitch tracking the mud through the house.

"Your stuff isn't going to move itself," Emma said as she strode back through the foyer, winking at her son.

"Yeah, yeah," James said before tugging his wand out of his back pocket and levitating his trunk up the stairs. He ran behind it, moving quickly down the long hall in the eastern part of the house towards the very end where his room was located. He pushed open the one door, levitating the trunk in behind him and sending it towards the space in front of his wardrobe before he collapsed on the bed.

* * *

><p>Lily practically screamed when she saw Hestia getting out of her car from the bathroom window where she was brushing her teeth. She quickly spat the toothpaste out of her mouth before she sped down the stairs, swinging the front door open so hard that it hit the wall behind it with a thud.<p>

"Hest!" she exclaimed, jumping into the brunette's arms. The girls jumped, hugging and spinning in circles as they reunited.

"Oh Lily it's so good to see you!" Hestia said, smiling as the two girls pulled apart from their hug and gathered Hestia's belongings before heading back towards the house. "This," Hestia said, as soon as they got through the door and the smell of biscuits wafted towards her, "is why I love staying at your house for half the summer each year."

Lily shook her head at her best friend before she led the two of them up the stairs towards her bedroom.

Hestia stopped at the landing, looking towards the two doors that sat side by side one another across from the stairs. "Is she home today?" Hestia asked Lily who peeked into the slightly ajar door before turning to shake her head and step into her own room.

"Perfectly tidy as always," Hestia said grinning as she observed Lily's room. Lily chuckled, placing Hestia's suitcase on her desk chair before taking a seat, cross-legged on the bed.

"What are you looking at?" Lily asked, taking notice of Hestia's intense stare out of her bedroom window.

"Just checking to see if a certain someone across the way is home," Hestia said, not taking her eyes away from the house. "Nope not home," she said, to which Lily sighed in relief, but Hestia had spoken too soon, "But then again, why would he be home when he can sit on your back lawn by the riverbank?" she continued on, her voice dropping slightly.

"He's what!?" Lily said, jumping off the bed to join Hestia at the window. "What part of 'I don't want to talk to you again,' does he not understand?"

"Want me to go set him straight?"

"Hestia, as much as I appreciate that," Lily laughed, "I don't think you'll make him go away, you're just not that intimidating…"

Hestia mocked hurt but ended up laughing instead at the truth of Lily's statement.

The two stopped their laughter when Lily's door flung open, an angry Petunia standing in the doorway with her arms crossed across her chest.

"Why is he sitting in our backyard?" she said, her voice clearly expressing her disgust.

"They had a falling out at school, no longer friends, he's stocking her," Hestia said simply.

"Took long enough," Petunia said, stomping into Lily's room to look out the window with them. "So are you going to deal with him or not?"

Lily frowned, huffing. "Fine, fine, I'll go deal with it," she said before she left her room, heading downstairs. She turned to go back to her room, deciding against it but was met by Petunia and Hestia standing at the top of the stairs, blocking her from retreat. "I hate you both," she said before jogging down the last few steps, storming through the house, only pausing in the kitchen to explain to her mum why she was muttering to herself.

Lily took a deep breath before opening the terrace door and moving swiftly across the lawn towards the riverbank. She stopped just at the end of their lot, where their lawn met the park property.

"Go away," she said, exhausted.

Severus Snape turned around to face her, his face lighting up despite her fierce expression. He stood up quickly, scurrying towards her.

"Lily, I'm sorry I-,"

"I don't want to hear it!" she said loudly.

"But he made me say it!"

"He didn't make you do anything!"

"He put me in a compromising position Lily!"

"Potter was being Potter! He's tortured you thousands of times and you never called me that! Never!"

"This was different…"

"Nothing about that situation was different! Except for you!"

"But, but I didn't mean it!"

"You didn't? Oh well that means so much to me, especially considering you call everyone else like me a mudblood!"

"But I didn't mean to!"

"Regardless of whether you did or not, I can't be friends with someone who degrades people because of their blood status! I let it go for a while because I thought that maybe you would see the fault of being one of them, but you showed me the exact opposite. I want nothing to do with them… or you anymore. I refuse to be one of them," Lily said, with finality in her voice.

"But-"

"I'm done, Severus," she said, sadly before turning around to head back inside.

Lily rolled her eyes when she saw Petunia and Hestia watching out her window.

* * *

><p>"Lily are you coming down or not?" Hestia yelled from the bottom of the stairs. "Alice and Marlene will kill us if we're late!"<p>

"I'm coming," Lily yelled back, grabbing her bag off of the bed. She ran downstairs to find her mum and Hestia waiting eagerly.

"Ok, let's go," Claire said, shooing the two young girls out the door. "Tuney, we will be back in time for dinner, Vernon is welcome to join us!"

"Ok!" was all Claire heard.

She closed and locked the front door behind her before jogging to get into the front seat of the car, the two teenagers already buckled in the back.

"We're meeting them at the Leaky Cauldron right?" Claire asked.

"Yes, they said they'll be flooing in at noon," Lily responded before her and Hestia started in on an animated discussion about school, and siblings and everything else.

The drive into London went by quickly, only spanning an hour and a bit. Lily and Hestia jumped out of the car as soon as Claire pulled into the space. She rushed out after them, trying to catch up to them before they went in the pub.

"Girls! I need to come with you!" Claire yelled, running across the busy London Street.

Lily and Hestia turned around, laughing before they grabbed hold of Claire and dragged her through the entranceway to the pub.

"Lily! Hestia!" a voice screamed from across the room.

"Marls!" they screamed back in unison, disturbing customers as they sprinted towards their friend.

"Don't forget about me!" another voice shouted from behind them. Lily and Hestia peeked over Marlene's shoulder to see Alice knocking soot off herself from the fireplace. The three in the hug grinned at one another before swiftly moving to Alice, engulfing her in their embrace, the three mothers looking on.

"Should we get to shopping then?" Mrs. McKinnon asked the two other ladies.

"If we don't start now I'm not sure we will ever get done in time," Claire chuckled, following Alice's mother, Mrs. Prewett out of the pub and into Diagon Alley, the four teenagers taking up the back as they regrouped for the first time since school ended.

"How was France Marls?"

"It was fantastic, my cousin showed me to all these cool shops and such. And let me tell you this," the three girls leaned in closer, "The French boys are so much better than the ones at Hogwarts!"

"Good to know things haven't changed with you," Lily said jokingly, patting Marlene on the back.

"Hey!" Marlene rebutted, but this just made the others laugh harder.

"What about you, Miss. Perfect?" Marlene said a few moments later, prodding Lily in the arm.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" the red-head tried to say nonchalantly.

"He sat on the riverbank everyday staring at her window," Hestia answered for her with a grin.

"Gee, thanks Hest…" Lily said, pushing her friend away.

"Did you say anything to him Lily?" Alice asked, linking arms with the redhead.

"I told him, yet again, that I had no desire to be friends with anyone who choses their friend's based off of blood purity," she said determinedly.

"And what'd he say?" Marlene enquired.

"He said he didn't mean to and that Potter made him," Lily said, "nothing new to his argument really."

"It'll be interesting to see how he acts at school this year," Hestia wondered out loud, gaining curious glances from the other three. "Well I mean, up until the end there last year he wasn't as bad as the rest of them because he had you still, but he doesn't anymore."

Lily froze at the thought. "Maybe I should-"

Marlene whipped around and grabbed Lily by the arms. "No. He is not worth it and nothing anyone says or does is going to make him good again. He's too far gone, and he is not worth your time or energy Lily. So don't let any of what he does make you feel bad about your decision to end your friendship."

Lily pulled Marlene into a hug. "Thanks Marls."

"Now let's do some school shopping," Alice declared, once again lightening the mood.

Hestia scanned the Alley. "Um, guys, I think we may have lost them…"

Lily looked around. "Well they have the lists, and the money so we could leave the shopping up to them and get some ice cream for Fortescue's."

"Sounds good to me," Hestia said, to which the others agreed.

"Hold up a second," Marlene said, just as Hestia started to move away.

"Wh-what are we waiting for?" Hestia asked, clearly confused by the situation.

"Them," Marlene snickered before pointing at a group of 5 guys that had just entered the Alley not too far away from them.

Lily and Alice spun around to see non other than Remus, Sirius, Peter, James and Frank strolling towards them, for the most part lost in their own conversation, besides Remus and Frank who waved politely at the girls.

"Let's leave," Lily said quickly, grabbing onto Hestia's arm knowing she would follow her.

"Avoiding Potter I see," Marlene shouted after them.

Lily just smirked back before getting lost with Hestia in the crowd.

Marlene and Alice just laughed before running ahead to greet the boys. Alice moved quicker, eager to give a hug to Frank. He picked her up and swung her around.

"Hey," he said, to both Marlene and Alice after he gave the latter a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey back," Marlene said simply.

"Waiting for us were you McKinnon," Sirius said, strolling towards her, swinging an arm around her shoulder.

"You wish," she said with a wink.

"Yes he does," Remus agreed before muttering his greetings to the two girls.

"How have your summer's been?" James asked.

"Great, spent mine in France with my extended family," Marlene answered.

"I was living with my cousins for a while, while my parents were visiting some friends in Romania," Alice said.

"Hey Peter," Marlene said after a few moments of the smaller boy not saying anything. He perked up after hearing his name, greeting both of them quickly.

"Alrighty then," Marlene concluded.

"Is it just the two of you?" James asked, looking around them for a certain redhead.

"No," Alice said, smirking, as she knew what James was trying to get at. "Your favourite one is off with Hestia getting ice cream."

"She bolted when she saw you all coming," Marlene continued. Alice glared at her.

"What she means to say is we were going to get ice cream before we spotted you, they were already headed that way," Alice said, trying not to hurt James' feelings.

"Oh," James responded, running his hand through his hair nervously. "How is she?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Alice suggested. "Come join us for ice cream."

"I'm in!" Sirius and Peter both said simultaneously.

Remus and Frank nodded in agreement and followed the two girls as they led them towards Fortescue's.

* * *

><p>Note: All J.K. Rowling content is fully hers and I take no credit for it.<p> 


	4. Hide-and-Seek

"Thank-you," Lily said brightly, accepting her cone from Mr. Fortescue. He smiled at her before he moved onto the next customer.

"I forget every year how much I love this ice cream," Hestia said happily as the two took a seat at one of the tables on the cobblestone area.

Lily shook her head, giggling while she watched Hestia try to catch the drips off the cone.

"Stop laughing," Hestia tried to protest, "eat your own and mind your own business!"

"Yes mam," Lily joked earning her a glare from Hestia.

"I'd wipe that smirk off your face if I were you Lils," Hestia said a few moments later. She continued on after noticing Lily's confused glance. "They're all coming towards us," she said grinning as she pointed towards the group of them walking down the street, Alice and Marlene leading the way with big smirks on their faces as they took in Lily's face.

"I really don't want to have to deal with him or them right now," Lily whined, trying to look for a place to hide.

"You're going to have to talk to him eventually Lily," Hestia said all intelligently.

Lily ignored the advice and slipped underneath the table, hoping he would move on to some other store if he saw that she wasn't there. She listened as Hestia greeted the boys.

"Hey Remus," she said happily, before turning to the rest of them, "and Peter and Frank and Sirius and James!"

"Hey," they all muttered back.

"Where is she?" Marlene demanded a few moments later, taking a seat in Lily's old chair.

Lily couldn't hear Hestia's response, only a shuffling of feet. She backed up a bit, trying to retreat further under the tablecloth, fearing that someone would lift up the tablecloth any second to see her hiding like a child under there.

"Wh-no! Black!" Lily screamed a few seconds later when in one swift moment two hands reached underneath the table and grabbed Lily around her waist, pulling her back and over that persons shoulder.

Hestia and Marlene threw their heads back in laughter at the sight of Lily being paraded around on Sirius' shoulder, more than likely screaming his ear off as he introduced her to the surrounding customers and made her hang there while he waited in line for his ice cream.

"Well she looks happy," Remus chuckled, pulling up a chair to the table, Frank, James, Peter and Alice following suit.

"Oh she's thrilled," Alice said sarcastically.

"How mad do you think she is going to be when he finally lets her down?" Hestia asked, turning to look at the fuming girl still dangling in Black's arm.

James chuckled along with the other guys. "I'll wager 3 galleons that she hexes him while she screams at him," he said, placing the coins down in the center of the table.

Frank tossed in some sickles. "I bet she won't even wait for him to place her down before she sends him flying across the way."

"She's definitely going to pretend all is fine and then send him flying," Remus said, placing some change on the table.

The three boys looked expectantly at Peter who was looking elsewhere.

James slapped him on the arm.

"What was that for?" Peter exclaimed, rubbing his arm.

"What's your wager?" Frank asked.

"A few knuts that she yells at him," Peter said, "loudly," he added after taking in the others expressions.

"Right," Remus nodded awkwardly.

"So girls?" Frank asked them seeing as they had been silent through the whole exchange.

Marlene smiled an evil grin. "We're not giving you our input on this matter."

"Why not?" Remus questioned loudly.

"Because we know her too well," Alice said, before shoving a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. "It wouldn't be fair for us to wager, because we'd win," she continued, the other girls nodding adamantly.

"But we are happy to tell you at least one of you is close to right," Hestia added.

"And you'll be happy to know that you will find out who that is in just a few moments because they are coming back," Marlene said, "and she is kicking, ouch that ones going to hurt," she commented further after watching Lily kick Sirius hard in the gut.

"At least she missed," James said, howling with laughter.

"Now, now Lily. It isn't nice to hurt people," Sirius lectured as he walked towards the group, winking at James as he did.

"Black put me down, please!" she begged, pounding her fists against his back in protest.

"Let me think about that…" Sirius said, acting as if he was actually pondering her release. "Nope."

"Agh!" she yelled. "Black I will hex you if you don't put me down this instance!"

"You've said that before Evans," Sirius countered. "But, since you threatened me… Here ya go James!" he said happily, tossing Lily across Remus' lap towards James who scurried to get out of his chair and into a position to actually receive her.

Lily screamed throughout the whole ordeal.

"Gotcha," James said, rather seriously.

Lily looked at him, gripping onto his sweater for dear life until she realized her feet were back on the ground. She caught herself staring intently into his eyes, taking a step back as soon as she did. "Thanks," she said quietly before making a mad dash to a chair that was as far away from Sirius Black as she could get.

Alice and Hestia were in awe of James' and Lily's exchange, desperately hoping that something further would happen but found themselves slumped back in their seats still wishing when Lily backed away.

"Nice one," Marlene snickered under her breath to Sirius, who grinned at the complement.

"You alright there Lily?" James asked a few moments later, noticing how red Lily's face still was even though she was finally right side up again.

"No, no I am not!" she yelled, standing up. She put her hands down on the table fiercely, making the ice cream bowls jump up. Her eyes narrowed in at Sirius who was far too content for her liking. "Sirius Black I am going to murder you!"

He gulped. Marlene nudged him.

"Do you honestly think that you can get away with doing that and not get bloody well punished for it?!" Lily screamed before reaching for her wand and hexing him badly.

Everyone stared, James completely forgetting about the wager and the money on the table that he had just won. Lily sat calmly back down, pretending nothing had happened and picked up the remainder of her ice cream.

Hestia grinned at Lily who gave her one of her infamous smiles in return. Alice high-fived her and Marlene reached to give her a pat on the back.

"He really needs to learn to not mess with Lily," Remus said snickering as the boys watched Sirius limp back to them, massaging his head as he did.

"Yes he does," James agreed, his eyes glued to Lily who was laughing with the rest of them at the whole ordeal.

* * *

><p>Note: All J.K Rowling content is fully hers and I take no credit for it. Please, please, please review if you have time! I apologize for this chapter being so short, I just wanted this scene to be by itself and away from the hustle and bustle of the next chapter!<p> 


	5. Running

"James?" Christopher Potter asked, sticking his head into his son's room.

The room in which you could normally see the carpet on any given day looked as though it had been turned completely upside down and shaken a few times. Christopher hesitantly took a few steps in, trying to step in only the places he deemed as 'safe territory'.

"James?" he called again.

"Yeah?" James' voice called out from one of the areas on the other side of the room nearest the wardrobe.

"Your uh mum," Christopher said, stepping towards where he heard the voice, "that the uh Ministry Cars will be here soon. Sent me up to uh make you were ready… clearly not…" he concluded, with a chuckle, picking up James' Quidditch sweater and throwing it towards the open trunk.

James stood up quickly from where he was laying underneath the bed, trying to grab a few things. He surveyed the room and went to reach for his wand but stopped when he noticed the disapproving look on his fathers face.

"If magic didn't make the mess then magic isn't to be used to fix it," Christopher said, smirking as he quoted his wife's expression.

James groaned before he moved quickly, trying to grab all the clothing he would need for the year and checking that he had all the parts of both his school and Quidditch uniform.

"Don't forget your shampoo," Christopher said before strolling back out of the room to update his wife.

"Right," James noted, running into his bathroom to grab his toiletries and toss them into the trunk. James looked around his room again. He bolted to his desk to grab the pictures he always brought with him and his favourite Quidditch posters before running out into the hall.

"Mum? Dad?" he hollered.

Emma came running up the stairs a few seconds later.

"What is it James?" she said, rapidly moving towards him.

"I was just wondering if you could get my broom from the shed?" he asked, running his hand through his hair.

Emma took a step around him to see his room still quite messy.

"Yes, yes fine, but James, hurry, you can't miss the train," she said, pushing him back towards his room before she scurried off down the hall.

He took a step back into his room. The bed was still unmade; inkbottles were turned over on his desk and his closet still looked like it was ready to explode all over again.

James moved quickly, locking his cupboard doors to avoid outburst, then turning around to make his bed the best he could. He went last to his desk, throwing the extra inkbottles into his book bag and throwing his summer work into there as well. When he was done he double-checked that his balcony door was locked and that his blinds were drawn before pulling his wand out of his back pocket and casting the levitating spell on his trunk and rushing out the door.

He ran quickly down the stairs, passing the ballroom and the dining hall before reaching the front foyer where his mother and father were waiting patiently, greeting the car drivers for the trip into London.

"All set?" Christopher asked James who nodded in response.

"Good, good," Emma said before walking out ahead of them, James and Christopher following behind, James' trunk suspended in between them.

Emma and James settled into the back of the car while Christopher took up the passenger seat, making polite conversation with the driver and his family throughout the journey to King's Cross.

"10:30 on the dot, good timing sir," Christopher bellowed, clapping the driver on the shoulder as they pulled into one of the parking spaces across the street from the station.

"Yes, thank-you," Emma said kindly, flashing the driver a soft smile as he escorted her out of the car.

"My pleasure Mrs. Potter," he said, tilting his hat towards her before moving to open the back for the Potters.

James heaved the trunk out and onto one of the nearby trolleys.

He moved ahead of his parents who were talking as they walked along behind him. He looked around the front of the station for anyone he would know, but sighed when no one was to be found.

His head instinctively swerved around when he heard someone behind him yell "Lily". James saw that behind his parents a tall man with graying hair, wearing dark slacks and a collared shirt, was running steadily towards the front entrance a book bag swinging in his hand. His eyes followed the man as he sprinted towards the doors, watching as he slowly came to a stop in front of none other than Lily Evans who had spun around just moments before.

James' feet started moving again at the sight of her, desperately hoping to catch up with her before she got too far.

* * *

><p>"Lily!"<p>

"I wondered what was taking him so long," Claire laughed as she watched Jonathan run through the crowds with Lily's bag in hand.

Lily spun around and patter her shoulders realizing that she had actually forgotten her bag in the car, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her dad holding it.

"Thank-you," she gasped, throwing it immediately onto the top of her trolley.

"Figured you might need it," Jonathan said, before linking his hand with Claire's and moving on ahead.

Petunia laughed at Lily who was silently thanking the higher powers that all her hard work was not lost.

"What would they have said had the great Lily Evans not turned in her summer work that she spent so much time doing?" Petunia teased, exaggerating.

Lily shuddered at the thought of McGonagall's face if she actually didn't hand her work in. "I don't want to know," she said. "Shall we keep going?" she asked Petunia.

"I can't actually," Petunia said quietly, "I agreed to meet Vernon's sister, she's in London right now…"

"Oh, ok, well I'll see you at Christmas then Tuney," Lily said before gathering her sister in a hug, giving her a soft smile before Petunia exited through the main doors.

Lily turned around, double-checking she had everything she needed on her trolley before she set off again to catch up with her parents before they reached the platform.

"Lily?" a voice rang out from behind her.

She spun around to see James Potter pushing through the main doors.

"Oh, hi Potter, I mean James. Hi James," she stuttered.

"Enjoy the rest of your summer?" he asked, falling into step beside her as they maneuvered through the station.

"Yes, actually," she said simply. "Although I only saw you two weeks ago, so not much has happened," she said, trying to be funny.

"Right," James said, running his hand through his hair nervously.

"It was meant to be a joke," she said awkwardly a few moments later, smiling at him to try to get him out of his funk.

"Right," he said again, a little happier this time, returning the smile.

"And how was yours?" she asked, trying to create some form of conversation.

"My what?"

"Your summer?" she laughed.

He smiled hearing her laugh. "It was good," he finally said, "the boys came over a couple of times, got into some mischief. Other than that just trained for Quidditch and did the summer assignments."

"All of them?" she asked a little bewildered.

He feigned hurt. "I do work," he mocked back, which made her grin.

"Sure you do," she joked, nudging him in the side.

"Lily!" a voice called out from up ahead. The two teenagers looked to see Lily's parents waiting in front of the barrier to platform 9 ¾.

"Are those your parents?" James asked.

"In all their glory," Lily said smiling. "I'll see you on the platform?" she said to which he nodded before she turned and went off to her parents, disappearing moments later into the barrier.

"Find a girl and just take off son?" Christopher Potter joked, coming up behind James.

"Only if it is Lily," Emma said, before she marched on ahead and walked through the barrier to the platform.

"So that's the Lily Evans," Christopher said, emphasizing 'the'.

"Yes it is, and she actually spoke to me, normally," James said, still in amazement.

"Well let's get a move on then, can't let her out of your sight now," Christopher joked before heading through the barrier, James coming up behind.

James moved quickly once he was on the platform, rushing to find a place to store his trunk on the train.

"Prongs!" Sirius hollered down the train's narrow corridor.

"Padfoot!" he hollered back.

"Right in here my good friend," Sirius said, directing him to one of the compartments. He helped James throw the trunk up on one of the overhead racks before they started back for the platform.

"Parents here?" James asked. Sirius shuttered.

"Unfortunately," he said, eyeing the place where the Blacks stood, looking disapprovingly at their eldest son as he stood next to a Potter.

"Your mother looks, well, horrible," James commented.

"Thanks!" Sirius replied jokingly before slinging an arm around James' shoulder and heading back down the platform towards where James parents stood conversing with another family.

Upon closer look James noticed that Lily was with them. His parents were talking to the Evans.

"Isn't that Lily?" Sirius asked a few seconds later.

"Yup," James said, nodding his head.

"Well this should be fun," Sirius smirked before striding over to the group and scaring Lily from behind.

"Black!" Lily screamed.

"Sirius Black!" Emma Potter scolded before moving across the group to embrace her second son. "You don't look as awful as you did coming back from last summer," she observed, holding the boys face in her hands.

"It's called staying hidden," Sirius remarked proudly.

Christopher Potter grinned. "That a boy!"

Emma turned to the Evans who were watching the scene amused. "This is Sirius Black, one of our son's fellow mischief makers," she said, while Sirius extended his hand to Claire and Jonathan.

"We've heard about you," Jonathan said grinning, "way to keep her on her toes," he added.

Lily sighed. "And yet another one has gone to the dark side…"

The Potters laughed at her comment whilst Sirius sauntered over to her. She tried to move away but he kept her locked in his grasp. "And here I was thinking we were making such good progress my dear Lilikins," Sirius said seriously.

Lily laughed but stopped suddenly. "Did you just call my Lilikins?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yup, just thought of it myself."

"Quite the accomplishment Padfoot," James said sarcastically.

Jonathan Evans looked over at the raven-haired boy and then at Emma and Christopher. "And this must be your son, correct?"

"Ah, yes this is James," Christopher said proudly. James shook Jonathan and Claire's hands.

"It's nice to meet you both," he said politely, making Lily do a double take.

"Well we have heard a lot about you from Lily," Claire said grinning.

James ran his hand through his hair. "Sorry about that," he said apologetically.

"Nonsense," Claire said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It wasn't all bad," Lily admitted, smiling. "They know about your Quidditch accomplishments, and some academic ones, like when I beat you," she added teasingly.

"Seems like you have some brains of your own," Jonathan added. "Looking forward to hearing more about the Quidditch this year!"

James and Sirius looked excited. "It's going to be a hell of a year," Sirius grinned. "Especially with the new captain here," he said, punching James in the arm.

Lily turned to him, shocked. "You got it?"

"Yeah," he said shyly.

"Congratulations then!" she said, clearly happy at Gryffindor's prospects this year.

Sirius and James looked back at her enthusiasm dumbfounded. The parents looked at the teenagers, confused. They all snapped back to reality when the whistle sounded.

"We have to go!" Lily practically screamed, pulling her parents in for a hug before saying goodbye to the Potters and dashing off. James and Sirius said goodbye to both sets of parents as well before darting off behind her.

"Well this will make for an interesting year," Christopher said as he and Emma waved one last goodbye to James and Sirius and moved to leave the platform.

"It certainly will," Emma said with a glint in her eyes.

* * *

><p>Note: All J.K Rowling content is fully hers and I take no credit for it. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you to those who have reviewed so far, I love reading your comments. And to LittleMarauder29 - I ship them too! Please if you have time review. I look forward to updating very very soon!<p> 


	6. Shiny and New

"Are you joining us?" Sirius asked, pausing outside the door to the boys' compartment on the train.

James who was already inside stuck his head back out to see her response.

Lily stood in the middle of the hall, looking around for any signs of her friends but didn't see them anywhere. She turned back around to Sirius and entered the compartment, shocking all its inhabitants.

Remus looked up from the book that he had already settled down to start reading when Lily came and sat next to him.

"Is that one of the course books?" she asked, trying to recall the list in her mind.

"No," Remus said, grinning because he knew that she was already afraid that she would be behind. "Just one I grabbed from Flourish and Blotts."

"Oh," she said relieved. "Don't you sit down when you ride the train?" she asked, her face showing her confusion as to why James and Sirius were still standing at the door.

"Approach slowly," Sirius guided, "don't give it any reason to harm you…"

"Is he treating me like I'm a rabid animal?" Lily asked Remus.

"It would appear so," Remus said observantly. "I think you forgot a few steps about dealing with beasts, Sirius," he said, winking at Lily before he went back to his book.

Lily smacked him in the arm.

"Sirius Black I am not some wild unpredictable beast! Sit down!" she said forcefully, kicking him so he would fall back into the seat across from her.

"Feisty as one," Sirius remarked to no one in particular.

Lily turned to James who was still standing awkwardly against the door.

"I won't bite," she joked, extending a hand towards him, which he took hesitantly. She pulled him back into the seat next to her, taking him and everyone else by surprise.

They all sat in silence for a few minutes, Remus read his book, looking up every few seconds to see that everyone was still in one piece; Lily sat there quietly, looking out the window and out into the hallway, searching for anyone she would know; and Sirius and James continued to stare oddly at Lily who they were afraid would combust from being confined in such a small place with them for too long.

She caught their stares a few times but just let it slide, rather amused by how confused they were by her actions.

The silence of their compartment was broken about an hour into the trip when Peter came running in looking like some animal had attacked him.

"Get trapped in the animal cart again, Pete?" Sirius asked, laughing at his friend's current state.

Peter huffed as he flung himself down on the seat next to Sirius.

"A group of second-years attacked me actually," he said, looking down at his feet out of embarrassment, not having noticed the fifth body in their car.

"Are you alright?" Lily asked kindly, shocking Peter.

He looked up slowly and jumped off his seat when he saw her sitting there at ease between James and Remus.

"Wh-what is she doing here?"

"Peter, we've been over this. Lily is a girl, they exist," Sirius said in slow motion. Remus covered his face with a book out of embarrassment for his friends.

Peter slapped Sirius.

"What am I? The group punching bag?" Sirius complained.

"If the shoe fits," Lily said smugly.

Remus and James both looked at her in shock.

"Way to go Lily," Remus said, congratulating her. She grinned in response but the celebration was cut short by a commotion out in the hall.

They all watched in anticipation, as the noise got closer to their compartment. All five of them jumped out of their seats and grabbed on to the next person when Alice, Marlene and Hestia slammed against the glass windows. The three girls burst out laughing at the sight of James holding Lily who was holding Remus who was holding her back and Sirius and Peter who were on the other side trying to use one another as a shield.

"Oh that was too good!" Marlene exclaimed, walking into the compartment and separating Sirius and Peter before taking a seat in between them.

"You should have seen your faces!" Hestia said, gasping for air for she was laughing too hard at the sight they had just witnessed. Hestia sat down on the floor in front of Lily.

"That was priceless," Alice agreed, joining her on the ground.

"That was horrible!" Lily said, smacking them both on the head.

"No, what you just did was horrible!" Hestia complained, rubbing her head.

"You'll be fine," Lily said, before settling back in her seat and apologizing to Remus for practically jumping on him.

Remus just chuckled at her. "It's alright," he said encouragingly.

The group settled into conversation. Marlene and Sirius were going back and forth between bantering and flirting, giving everyone a headache. Alice was talking to Peter about his mum and his summer vacation while Remus and Hestia were talking avidly about the book they happened to both be reading. Lily had shockingly started up an interesting conversation with James who was only too glad to be talking to her throughout the ride. They both failed to notice the group of second-years and above that were conjugating outside of their compartment.

The others all looked up a few times after noticing the commotion and asked one another why their compartment was so interesting but stopped when they realized that here was James and Lily, the two people who supposedly couldn't stand to be within 10 feet of each other, conversing civilly.

Lily looked past James after a long while, doing a double take when she saw all the noses pressed against the windows. She hit James' hand that was sitting on his leg and he too turned around, shocked and confused by the gathering outside.

"Why are they staring?" James asked everyone.

But before anyone inside could answer they saw Frank Longbottom trying to wrestle his way through the crowd and into their compartment. He tripped once he got in, but managed to save himself and shut the door firmly behind him, trying to shoo away the visitors as he did.

"Who knew that you two being civil would attract so much attention," he said, chuckling at the fact as he sat down on the bench across from them.

James and Lily looked at one another before they simultaneously burst out laughing at it all.

"They were all there because we were just talking?" Lily asked between gasps for air.

"Yup," Frank said, before he turned to Alice, hopping up not moments later when he realized why he came all the way to their compartment in the first place.

"What?" Alice shrieked, thinking something was wrong at her boyfriend's sudden movement.

"Lily, Remus! The prefect meeting!" he yelled before sliding the door open again.

Lily and Remus both jumped up and said a quick goodbye before they ran after Frank down the train.

* * *

><p>Note: All J.K. Rowling content is fully hers and I take no credit for it. Thank-you to all the reviewers, I love love love reading your comments! And to huflepuff girl14, I may or may not ship someone with Sirius… maybe possibly most definitely maybe… but we shall see! Update soon, I promise!<p> 


	7. Charmed Beginnings

Lily smiled widely at the first sight of the castle. It glowed in the dark of the night as the carriages made their way towards the main gates. The girls started tearing up at the sight of Sirius and Peter in the carriage behind them, trying to make it move faster as to race the girls to main entrance way. They heard James and Remus groan loudly when the carriage did the exact opposite of what they wanted, slowing down to almost a halt.

"Great, just great," Remus moaned.

"The first years are going to get to the castle faster than us!" James yelled. "And they are going across the Black Lake in slow moving boats!"

Sirius and Peter shrunk in their seats. Remus and James turned to one another, Remus motioning towards the castle.

"See you there," James said, before hopping off the back after Remus and running towards the girl's carriage.

Alice screamed when the boys finally caught up, not having seen them like the others. "Why didn't you warn me!?" she said harshly, before bursting out into a fit of laughter.

Lily and Hestia moved past Alice to help the boys up, failing miserably to do so because of their lack of strength. "Alice, Marls, a little help?" Hestia said as she tried to pull James up again.

Alice went to help her, eventually getting the messy-haired boy onto the carriage, Lily and Marlene getting Remus up shortly after.

"Why did you run?" Marlene asked, amused.

"Thought we could use some fitness before the feast," James tried to say all manly.

Remus looked oddly at him. "Sirius and Peter had the bright idea to try to charm the carriage into going faster but ended up only making it go ten times slower," he said sighing.

The four girls looked past him and fell back to their seats, clutching their stomachs after seeing Peter and Sirius looking miserable all the way back at the gates.

"Well that should teach them," Hestia tried to say optimistically.

Alice shook her head. "That'll teach Black nothing," she said still laughing, "he's doomed to repeat stupid mistakes for the rest of eternity.

"It's just part of his charm, isn't it Marls," Lily said knowingly to her best friend who shot her a glare in return.

"I hate you all," the blonde said, sulking.

Lily noticed the two boys expressions. "Say one word to him and we will hurt you. That's a promise."

James gulped while Remus stared back at her amused. "He'll figure it out on his own," Remus shrugged just as their carriage pulled up to the doors.

He hopped down before turning around and helping the girls down. "Need a lift too, Prongs?" he asked sarcastically before James hopped down and punched him in the arm. "I guess not. Should we wait for them?"

"Nah," James said, seeing as their old carriage wasn't even in the line yet.

The boys sprinted up the steps falling in behind the girls who were once again in awe at the Great Hall ceiling. James watched as Lily took hold of Hestia's arm, squeezing it tightly getting Hestia's attention.

"What is it?" Hestia asked. She looked across the hall to the far side and spotted Snape staring at Lily longingly as he repeatedly stabbed his fork into the table. "Well he looks ready to kill," she noted before turning to Lily, "but come on, the first-years are coming, we need to get good spots!"

Lily laughed before Hestia pulled her down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables. They sat down on the benches closest to where the new Gryffindor first-years would sit.

"Does it mean we have to be nice to them if we sit here?" Sirius complained as he slid into the seat across from Hestia.

"No one made you sit here…" Lily said. "Oh and how was the ride by the way?" she added, chuckling at Sirius' disgruntled expression.

"Maybe next time you'll just consider being normal," Hestia suggested.

James and Remus snorted.

Sirius feigned hurt. "I could be normal," he said, puffing his chest out, "but I choose not to be, it's part of my desirable charm that people fall for every time."

Marlene merely rolled her eyes while the rest of the grouped burst out in laughter.

They were silenced immediately when the headmaster stood up and stared them all down before quietly taking his place and watching as the oak doors at the other end of the hall opened to reveal Professor McGonagall leading the new first-years in.

The girls listened as the boys discussed each first year as they walked by, predicting absurd reasons as to why they would be placed in each house.

"Would you guys shut-up and just watch!?" Marlene said harshly to the three of them as Remus, Lily and Hestia greeted yet another first-year to their table.

"What are they doing?" Peter asked in awe as Lily smiled brightly as a first-year boy came and sat next to her right away and as Hestia and Remus started launching into their own Hogwarts tales.

James chuckled. He stared at Lily as she smiled widely, shaking hands with the final first-year to sit down.

"James! James!" Sirius said, reaching across the table to whack James' arm out from underneath his chin.

James sent a death glare to Sirius before turning to look up towards the headmaster as he began his before the feast speech.

"Welcome, welcome to another year at Hogwarts," Dumbledore began, peeking out at the school over his half-moon spectacles. "And welcome to our new students. I have a few beginning of term announcements to address before we "dig-in" as you young ones say. First off I would like to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Professor Cynric. We wish you the best of luck. Quidditch tryouts for all second-years and above for the house teams will begin this coming weekend. Check the bulletin boards in your respective common rooms for times and for postings about Captains. The first Hogsmeade weekend will take place at the beginning of October. Third-years and above are the only ones allowed to attend these outings so long as they have their permission slips signed," he paused when he noticed Sirius getting fidgety. "I'm almost done Mr. Black," he said, his eyes twinkling behind his spectacles, "I have been asked by our caretaker Mr. Filch to remind students to check his office door for the list of banned items and to once again tell you all that magic is not to be used in the corridors. The Forbidden Forrest, is out of bounds to all students, although some of our older students would do well to remember this," he said, eyeing down the Marauders who grinned back at him. "And now all I have to say is book egg pipe!"

Lily watched in excitement as the first-years gasped in awe as the food magically appeared in front of them in quantities they had probably never seen. She turned towards her friends but was overcome with disgust when she saw how Sirius and Peter were attacking their food.

"You get used to it, or you learn to just not look up," James suggested before taking a bite out of his chicken leg.

Lily nodded, acknowledging his more than likely useful advice.

* * *

><p>"Hey, I'm Lily and this is Remus and we are six-year Prefects in Gryffindor," Lily said, looking at all the first-years down the table from her. "If you ever need anything we are here to help you, or send you in the right direction. We're going to take you up to the common room now and show you your dormitories, so if you'll just follow us," she said, smiling as she and Remus pushed out from the table in unison, "we will show you the way."<p>

Remus shot her a smile across the table before he said goodbye to their friends and ran around the table to take up the back of the group.

Lily flashed a smile to the group still seated at the table before she turned on her prefect voice and walked backwards out of the hall without tripping over her own two feet.

Hestia, Marlene, Alice and James watched, their blood boiling, when they saw Lily by accident bump into Snape who was leading his own first-years out.

"Why is she smiling?" James asked harshly and loudly as he and the rest of the group got up and ran down the hall.

"She's probably just putting on a good face for the first-years," Alice reasoned, grabbing James by the arm. "She's still not friends with him," she added which made James calm down immediately.

They made it to the common room just in time to hear the end of Lily's a Remus' speech.

"Girls dormitories are up the stairs and to the right," Lily said.

"And boys are to the left," Remus continued. "Your stuff should already be in there along with your new Gryffindor ties, jumpers, mitts and scarves."

"Your schedule's will be handed out at breakfast tomorrow morning by our head of house, Professor McGonagall. Remus and I along with the other prefects can help you find your first class of the day after breakfast."

"Lily and I will be in the common room tomorrow morning at 7:30 to escort anyone who would like to be shown where to go again to breakfast, and I think that's it," Remus said, checking with Lily who smiled in agreement before they bid the first-years goodnight and crossed the common room to their friends.

Lily was stopped a few seconds later by the first-year who had sat next to her at dinner.

"Your name is Lily right?" he asked shyly.

"Yes and you're Nathan, right?"

"Yes, that's me," he said.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked sweetly.

"I just, you know, uh wanted to…. Your pretty!" he screamed before darting up the staircase.

Lily just went wide-eyed. She shook it off before turning around to her friends who were bursting at the seams with laughter.

"Looks like someone has a crush on the women in charge," Marlene stated, patting Lily on the back.

"It's cute," Alice tried to say nicely but she just started laughing again, which caused a domino effect on the group.

"Real mature guys," she said, rolling her eyes. "Whatever, I'm off to bed, see you after 7 Remus!" she called back, trudging up the stairs.

"I'm going too," Hestia said, yawning a few seconds after.

"Don't yawn, you're making me yawn," Marlene said as she followed Hestia up the stairs.

"Night!" Alice called after kissing Frank, who was waiting by the stairs. He waved to the boys before heading up to his own dormitory with the rest of the seventh years.

The boys sat there watching as the room emptied out quickly after the girls.

"Well we know how to clear a room," Sirius said, pulling his feet out of his shoes and placing them on the coffee table.

"I think it was all you," Remus said in the middle of a coughing fit at the smell before her darted up the stairs to safer grounds, James and Peter quickly following his lead.

"I'm not that bad!"

"Yes you are!" he heard Marlene yell all the way from the girl's tower.

"Am not," he grumbled before he too stumbled up the stairs to bed.

* * *

><p>AN: All J.K Rowling content is fully hers and I take no credit for it. Thank you so much for reviewing, thank you thank you thank you! I love reading them and you'll be happy to know that you guys are right on many accounts with the relationships of people in the future of this fic. I promise to update soon! Sorry for missing a day there, big essay to write, it definitely was not as fun as writing this. Please tell me what you think! If you have time that is! :)<p> 


	8. Partners with Who?

"How? How are you all possibly up so early?" Marlene complained as she slumped down on the bench next to Lily at breakfast. Lily just stroked her friend's long blonde hair as she fell asleep on her plate.

"At least she made it out of bed," Hestia said shrugging before digging back into her eggs.

"My question is how are both James and Sirius out of bed and here before I am?" Alice said, pulling up a seat on the other side of Marlene while Frank sat across from her.

James just grinned from his spot next to Lily while Sirius tried to answer her question with a mouth full of food.

"Eck, that is not something I want to see first thing in the morning," Lily said, shivering in disgust.

Remus just laughed at her little charade. "You get used to it," he said, picking at his bacon and toast.

"I'm not sure that's something I want to get used to," Hestia said.

"Sixth-years, sixth-years," McGonagall muttered as she swept across the hall towards them. She quickly passed out the blank timetables to them, moving to each person before setting their final timetable in front of them after reviewing their O.W.L scores.

"Miss. Evans, Miss. Evans…" she said, scanning the list in front of her. "Are you sure you want to keep on with all of these classes?"

"Definitely," she said, accepting her timetable and glancing over it.

James leaned over her shoulder after McGonagall passed out his. "Well looks like your stuck with me for a majority of these classes," he said grinning.

"Exactly how many classes are you taking?" Hestia said, grabbing Lily's timetable.

"You're insane," Alice said, before passing it back.

"Charms, DADA, Astronomy, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Alchemy?" Marlene gasped. "Did you drop anything?"

"Divination and Care of Magical Creatures," she shrugged. "Picked up Alchemy instead."

"I've got that too," Sirius and Remus said.

"What do you have Remus?" she asked, pulling his timetable out of his hands.

"Everything the same," he said while she scanned it over. "Sirius is with us too, except for History of Magic and Arithmancy."

"I opted for Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures instead," Sirius said in between bites.

"I've got everything except for History of Magic and Alchemy," James said. "I'm with Sirius in Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies."

"What about you Peter?" Sirius asked.

"I have Charms, DADA, Astronomy, Herbology, Transfiguration, History of Magic and Divination," he said, slipping his timetable into his bag.

Hestia and Marlene had the exact same schedule. "Charms, DADA, Potions, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies and Herbology," Hestia said, passing Lily her timetable.

"I have almost the same," Alice said, "but I took Divination instead of Arithmancy."

"Ok, well we will see most of you in Potions then?" Lily asked before her and Remus left to show the first-years to their class.

* * *

><p>"Stand-up, stand-up," Professor Slughorn said as the group of six-years entered the classroom. "Welcome to Advanced Potion Making sixth years. I'll be assigning partners based on who I feel will work best together to advance to the level required by the end of your two years," he continued, while half the class groaned in protest. "Lily, lovely Lily," he said merrily as he scanned his list, "Mr. Black will be your partner, and joining you at your table will be Mr. Potter and Miss. Jones. Front desk please. Next table will be Mr. Lupin, Miss. Prewett, Miss. McKinnon and Mr. Snape. After that we will have Miss. Robinson, Mr. Avery, Mr. Tanner, and Miss. McDaniel. Now if you will all please take a seat we can begin."<p>

Lily pulled out the stool next to Sirius, Hestia and James sitting adjacent to them as they pulled their books out of their bags.

"Now who can tell me what this is?"

Lily and Snape's hands both shot up.

Slughorn grinned at the sight of his two top pupils racing each other once again.

"Let's let Miss. Evans answer this one Severus, you can have the next," he decided fairly.

Lily got out of her seat and walked towards the front of the class. She looked more closely at the brewed potion before turning with a grin to her Professor.

"It's Amortentia, sir," Lily responded, "otherwise known as the most powerful love-potion in existence. It is rumored to smell different to everyone. For instance I smell a fresh air, the pages of a new book, and the woody scent of a broomstick handle. Furthermore the effects of the potion take place almost instantaneously and the person who drank it will appear pale an sickly and obsessed with the object of their affection—important things to look for if you suspect someone has taken it. The potion itself can be recognized before consumption by its mother-of-pearl sheen and the distinctive way the steam raises in spirals as is seen here," she said, pointing at the way the steam was rising from the cauldron.

Slughorn smiled brilliantly at her as she walked back towards her table. "Excellent, excellent," he said clapping his hands together. "Fifteen points to Gryffindor house for Miss. Evans keen understanding of this advanced potion. Very, very good. I expect all of you to be able to recognize potions in the same manner displayed by Miss. Evans by the end of this term, if not the end of this year. Now, if you will open up your copies of Advanced Potion Making to the page of the that lists the ingredients to the Draught of Living Death, you may begin gathering your ingredients as soon as Mr. Snape tells me what this is," he said, holding up a vile of a gold coloured-clear liquid.

"Felix Felicis, also know as liquid luck. Consuming this particular potion will result in the user being 'lucky' for a period of 12 hours, during which everything they attempt will be successful. It can cause giddiness, recklessness, and dangerous over confidence if taken in excess. The potion takes 6 months to be brewed successfully and can be disastrous if made poorly," Snape said matter-of-factly.

"Very good, ten points to Slytherin," Slughorn said before turning back to the class. "The pair that manages to brew the best Draught of Living Death will be rewarded with this small vile to use accordingly. Warning, specifically to our Quidditch players in this class, this potion cannot be used during games, as it is a direct violation of Quidditch Conduct both at Hogwarts and in the International league. Anyways, you have one hour, good-luck!"

Lily set Sirius to preparing the cauldron while she went into the cupboard and dug through her bag to get all the supplies.

Lily set to work, handing Sirius the ingredients to put in the cauldron as she cut them up in various forms.

"Infusion of Wormwood," she said passing it to Sirius who has just finished heating up the cauldron.

"Powdered root," she said, handing him off the next ingredient after she ground it down to her liking.

"Ok stir exactly twice clockwise," she said, before pulling out the sloth brain and tossing it in.

Sirius looked to the book for the next ingredient. He turned to Lily and his eyes went wide, grabbing the knife from her.

"What are you doing? You could have cut my hand!" she whispered harshly trying not to attract Slughorn's or Snape's attention.

"You're supposed to cut it!" he whispered back trying to cut the bean just to see it whizz out of the way.

"Sirius, just watch," she said, taking back the knife and grabbing the bean. He watched closely as she squished the bean and successfully extracted enough juice from it for the potion.

"How did you know to do that?" he asked in amazement.

"Snape and I have been at the top of this class since first-year. We've brewed more advanced potions before, and used this ingredient. Now come on, we have to beat him," she said, passing him the stir-stick.

"Anti-clockwise seven times, and then go clockwise one rotation after that," she whispered in his ear.

He grinned at her after he had finished following her extra instruction to see the potion look as clear as it was described in the text.

"Incredible," he said, smiling widely.

"Remarkable indeed," Slughorn said over their shoulders, which made them both jump. "Another 20 points to Gryffindor house for this expert potion-making seen here by Miss. Evans and Mr. Black. And as promised, your bottle of Felix Felicis," he said, handing the bottle over the Lily.

She handed it to Sirius. "Good-job," she said, before getting to work clearing out the cauldron and putting their ingredients away.

"Class dismissed," Slughorn said, a few minutes later.

"I can't believe you were the winning pair," Remus said, catching up to Lily, Sirius, James and Hestia after class.

"I can't believe how brilliant she is in potions," Sirius admitted. "She didn't follow the steps in the books."

"You what?" Marlene asked, catching up to them.

"It's nothing," Lily said blushing, before grabbing hold of Marlene's arm. "Come on, we have Arithmancy and I don't want to be late."

"I'm telling you it was insane," Sirius continued on after the girls darted on up ahead.

James just smiled, adding her potion expertise to the list of reasons why he was so in love with her.

* * *

><p>AN: All J.K. Rowling content is fully hers and I take no credit for it. Also the potion ingredients and steps are thanks to the wiki page for Harry Potter—my lifesaver for this chapter and all the technicalities. Thanks again for the reviews and the favourites and follows. It means a lot. I hope to update soon, and to LittleMarauder29: Snape was madupset and acting like he was mad because he wants Lily back and is mad that she seems all ok with James and not him, and their friendship had been there for longer. Lily will know this in future chapters. Also I know there was no fluff in this chapter, but it's coming, I promise, this just needed to be dealt with first! :) Also, sorry for the spelling mistakes, I try to find them but my eyes just end up skimming the story for content not correction! Whoops!


	9. Back-up

"I'll see you back in the common room," Lily said, getting up from the table.

"Where are you going?" Hestia asked, dropping her fork on her plate.

"I want to get at least some of my work done in the warmth of the common room before everyone comes rampaging in after dinner," she said, grabbing a roll of the table before walking out.

"Does she ever stop moving?" James asked, watching her retreating form.

"No," Alice said simply.

"She has her school work, her prefect duties, her tutoring duties, the extra work she does with Slughorn from time to time and then when she's done all of that she worries about her future and then once she's done that she hangs out with us, writes to her family or is watching Quidditch," Marlene listed off.

"So she really is our Remus," Peter said which caused the other three boys to stare at him. "Well she is!"

"Except she doesn't have a 'furry little problem'" Sirius said, which earned him a death glare from James and Remus and confused looks from the girls.

"Oh! Right," Hestia said, which made the boys shoot her looks.

"Yeah, that's what we said we were doing tonight," Marlene tried to cover.

"Oh that's not good," Alice said, distracting everyone a few seconds later when she pointed to Severus who had just excused himself from the table and was walking briskly towards Lily who had stopped at the door to talk to little Nathan.

"Oh no you don't," Sirius said, grabbing James' arm and pulling him back down in his seat. "She's a big girl, she can handle it."

"We do damage control after," Hestia said, placing a hand on James' shoulder calming him down. "You guys can come with us after if you want, if it'll make you feel better?"

"Thanks," Remus said for James who was still shooting death glares towards Snape who was waiting a little ways a way from Lily while she finished her conversation.

"Besides that way we can make sure that you won't go and kill him before you know what actually happened," Marlene said, which made Sirius go red. "Knew it. You always jump to conclusions," she said, shaking her head at the boy.

"You like my spontaneous attitude, don't lie Marls," he said, swinging an arm around her shoulder.

She shrugged it off. "That's McKinnon to you."

"Just yesterday you were flirting with me!" he practically yelled.

Marlene went red with all the attention. "Maybe if you learned from your mistakes I would still be flirting with you!" she said, before stabbing her pie with her fork.

Remus just shook his head at Sirius who was still trying to figure out what he did.

* * *

><p>"Hey Nathan," Lily said smiling, seeing the first-year Gryffindor running into the hall.<p>

"Hi Lily," he said a little shyly but still managing a smile.

"Did you find all your classes? How were they?"

"Yeah, we were a little late to a few but we got there. They were really cool! So much better than what Professor McGonagall described when she came and told my family about Hogwarts this summer!" he said excitedly.

"You're a muggle-born like me then," she said happily.

"You are?" he asked, his eyes wide. "I wouldn't have guessed, all the teachers talked about how smart you were in lessons!"

Lily blushed. "Oh, well, that was nice of them," she stuttered out of embarrassment.

"Especially Professor Slughorn."

She grinned. "Potions is one of my favourite subjects and Professor Slughorn is an excellent teacher, you'll have fun," she said smiling, "I have to go though, I need to do some work before dinner's over."

"Lily?" he asked, before she went to leave.

"Yes?"

"Do they have tutors, do you tutor? I think I'm going to need some help…"

"Professor McGonagall will let you know once you get a few weeks in to the classes and to see where you stand. Come find me if you need help with some concepts before hand though, ok?" she said.

He grinned at her before sprinting towards his friends at the other end of the hall.

Lily smiled before spinning around to resume her walk to the common room but found herself bumping into someone.

"Oh I'm- what do you want?" she said after seeing that it was Severus blocking her way. She glared at him before side stepping around him and stomping off. She could hear him coming after her.

"Will you just listen to me?" he asked stopping at the bottom of the stairs.

"You don't listen to me so why should I return the favor?" she asked, fuming.

"Because I never got the chance to really apologize to you!"

"I don't want to hear it Severus. You can't just take it back. You can't call a so-called friend a mudblood and just expect that they will welcome you back to you with open arms! It doesn't work that way, surely you must have realized that before you said it!"

"I wasn't thinking! I was being tormented by that toe-rag Potter! He had me upside down! He wanted to take my trousers off for the amusement of himself and his little gang, Lily!"

"I saw it Severus, that's why I told him to stop!"

"I didn't need your help though Lily! I could have handled them!"

"Yes because you were doing so well on your own with your wand on the ground and completely out of your reach," she shot back. "Besides that is what friends do—they stick up for each other. I was being your friend Severus, not your enemy!"

"They made fun of me more for being saved by you! Didn't you notice that?"

"No, I didn't, because I never cared what they thought of me. They weren't worth my time, and they were not my friends or people I regarded highly, except for Remus, so why would I have cared what they thought?"

"Because everyone else did Lily! Everyone else rallied around them!"

"I can't control what other people do and neither can you! None of it matters though, because you still called me a mudblood, and have you realized that not once have you ever apologized for simply saying just that?"

"No but-,"

"There is always that 'but' Severus. I don't care what Black and Potter have done to you in the past. All I wanted you to say was sorry for calling me a mudblood. I didn't want the rest of it… that you called me a mudblood because Potter did this and that."

"I'm sorry for calling you that Lily," Severus said.

"I am too. But it still doesn't change anything, I'm sorry."

"Why not?! I did what you asked, I meant it!"

"I know you did. But Sev, you continue to call everyone else who has blood like mine a mudblood and until you change that, until you stop worshipping Voldemort and his stupid blood ideals, I refuse to be friends with you," she said, keeping eye contact with the boy for a few moments before spinning on her heel and retreating up the stairs.

Snape watched her go for a while, before she disappeared from view. He sighed and turned around to head towards the Slytherin House common room but found himself face to face with Marlene, Hestia and Alice, the Marauders found not too far behind.

"What?" he snapped.

"Leave her alone, Severus," Hestia said, still trying to address him cordially despite her distaste of the boy.

"It is none of your business, Jones," he said spitefully.

"Oh but you see it is," Marlene said, standing so she was within inches of his face. "See because Lily is our best friend and she is a way better person than you. She will forgive you one day, but she shouldn't and we will keep her away from you because we know who you are- who you really are. You can't be this hatefully, nasty person to everyone else and then pretend you walk on freaking water whenever you are around Lily. She deserves better than that. So stay away if you know what's good for you, because if we find her crying or upset when she is anywhere in your vicinity again, you will be answering to us. And let me tell you this: what these boys have done to you so far will seem like nothing in comparison to what we will do," she vowed before taking off after Lily up the stairs.

Hestia stared him down. "We will be watching," she said.

Alice glared at him before digging her heel hard into his foot and stomping off after the girls.

Severus Snape gulped as he watched the four Maruaders come towards him. He held his breath as they inched closer but was shocked when they merely bumped their shoulders hard against his before sprinting off after the girls.

Sirius and James were the last ones to pass him.

"Stay away from her, for good," James said harshly into his ear.

"Because if you don't we will make your life more miserable than it ever was before," Sirius vowed before joining James on their trek to the common room.

* * *

><p>Note: All J.K Rowling content is fully hers and I take no credit for it! Thankyou to those who have reviewed so far! Please if you have time review, I really want to her your thoughts! :)<p> 


	10. The New Pranksters

"Hey," Alice said tentatively, peeking into the girl's dormitory. Lily looked up from where she sat on the bed, hugging a pillow tightly against her chest, trying to signal that she was ok, but she just ended up tearing up again. Alice stuck her head back into the stairwell and mouthed "not good" to Marlene and Hestia who both sighed before pushing past her and flopping down on the bed next to Lily.

"Lily, he's not worth the tears," Marlene said, stroking Lily's wavy auburn hair as she wept.

"No guy that makes you hurt this way is," Hestia added.

"And if it makes you feel any better," Alice said, grinning at Marlene who laughed at the memory, "Marlene here practically threatened to beat Snape to a pulp if he was in a ten meter radius of you again."

Lily immediately looked up at Marlene. "What did his face look like when you said it?" Lily asked her enthusiastically, bouncing on top of the blonde, who laughed harder as they fell off the bed.

Marlene pushed Lily off of her. She got up and walked towards the other side of the room. The three other girls giggled as they watched her 'pre-performance' routine. They watched in anticipation as she spun around and dramatically reenacted their run in with Snape. Hestia and Alice jumped in when it was their turn but they all smiled when they saw their auburn haired best friend as she laughed and began relaying tales of Snape's more unfortunate and lesser known encounters with the school's bullies, and her sister during school breaks.

"I can't believe you never told us those stories before, Lily!" Hestia shrieked as she flung a pillow across the room at Lily who grabbed it and then un-expectantly fell backwards off the bed.

The other three just started to move to check if she was all right when three smaller pillows came flying towards each of them from the side of Lily's bed where they could hear her shrieking with laughter.

Hestia, Alice, and Marlene ran around the room, screaming as they tried to avoid the pillows. Marlene was hit first with the pillow chasing her. Her legs went flying out from under her as it hit the back of her legs causing her to land with a thud next to a laughing Lily. The two both broke out in laughter at both their situation and their friends, who both landed in heaps on the floor after a few more minutes of the pillows relentlessly chasing them.

"That hurt," Alice exclaimed, after their laughing fit concluded.

Lily just grinned and shrugged after pushing her self up off the ground and brushing the feathers off of her school robes. The girls went still when she pulled her wand out of her pocket.

"Relax," she said before she transfigured the three small pillows into one and chucked it across the room back to Hestia's bed.

"Next time lets not pick on the brains of the group," Marlene said, slumping down onto her bed.

"She has the upper-hand being at the top of the class in transfiguration and charms," Alice said, plopping down onto her own bed.

"Not to mention potions and history of magic and-" Hestia started but stopped when Lily bolted, jumping across her bed and grabbing her bag before sprinting out of the room leaving the three girls stunned.

* * *

><p>"Who is throwing stuff at the window?" Alice groaned before she flipped over onto her stomach and pulled her pillow tightly over her head to block out the noise.<p>

Marlene sighed as yet another thing pelted their window. She got up reluctantly and grabbed her robe off the railing surrounding the fire before stomping angrily across the room. She kneeled down, pushing the window open and stuck her head out just in time to get hit in the head with a stone. Her hand immediately flung up to her forehead to feel the blood that was trickling down.

"Black I'm going to murder you!" she yelled, picking up the stone and whipping it towards his retreating form.

"It's Quidditch day! It's Quidditch day!" she heard him yelling as he continued to fly around the tower.

Lily chuckled when she opened her eyes to see Marlene glaring out the window and muttering under her breath. She quietly slipped out of bed and tied her robe around her waist before settling down next to Marlene. She followed Marlene's glare as she saw Sirius continue to fly by their dorm, hitting stones and other objects towards them with his beater bat.

"What exact-" Lily started to ask before she fell backwards, knocking her head hard against the wooden floor.

"Lily!" Marlene screamed. "Black you are so in for it now!"

Hestia and Alice scurried out of bed at Marlene's screams. Hestia slid across the floor, gathering Lily's head into her lap.

She stifled a laugh though when Lily's emerald green eyes looked up at her and winked before going back to looking as though she was unconscious.

"This isn't funny, Hest!" Alice shrieked, running from the bathroom with a cold compress for Lily's head.

"It is! She's fine," Hestia said, poking Lily in her side which made the red-head choke out a laugh before she yet again went back to being still.

"Oh," Alice and Marlene both said, smiling but looking solemn again when they saw Sirius fly dreadfully close to their window—his face petrified when he took in Lily's petite frame splayed out across the floor, her head resting in Hestia's lap.

"What on earth were you thinking?" Marlene shrieked, going along with Lily's charade.

Sirius ran his hand through his hair, trying to rack his brain for an idea.

"Sirius, what the hell are you doing? It's Quidditch tryout day!" James exclaimed, joining Sirius as he hovered by the window. "Lily!" he screamed, not moments later when he saw her on the floor. "Get her down to the common room now! We will meet you there!" he yelled, taking off to the courtyard, Sirius following right behind.

Marlene leaned her head back out the window. "Clear!" she declared which made the girls scramble to their feet. "Run!" she yelled again a few seconds later.

Hestia, Alice, Marlene and Lily raced down the stairway, trying not to wake anyone else as they made their way down to the common room.

"Lily, get on the couch there, Alice, fret over her will you," Marlene ordered, the girls scrambling into positions as she did. "Hest, go meet them and act panicked, tell them that you think you need Madam Pomfrey!"

Hestia saluted Marlene teasingly before taking off out the door. "I hear them coming!" she yelled stepping back in before running out the door to carry out her duty.

"What exactly are you doing to help this prank, Marls?" Lily asked, propping herself up on her elbows.

Marlene just grinned before raising her wand to accio one of their schoolbooks.

"She's going to pretend she's a genius," Alice remarked before pushing Lily back down into position and getting slapped by Marlene. "That was unnecessary!" she complained but Marlene just grinned in response.

"Ouch!"

"Alice, it didn't hurt that badly!" Marlene said whipping around to Alice.

"Wasn't me," Alice said.

"Nope that would be me," Peter said, rubbing the back of his head just as Marlene grabbed the book out of the air.

"Sorry," she half-apologized, tossing the book onto the table.

"What exactly are you doing?" Remus asked, trudging into the common room behind Peter.

Alice and Marlene froze.

"Is she ok?" Peter asked, running towards the couch where he proceeded to poke Lily in the side to check, only to see her not respond.

At this Remus raised his eyebrows at the girls before moving frantically towards his auburn-haired friend.

Lily opened her eyes for a moment, proceeding to wink at the two boys before resuming her unconscious pose. Peter and Remus looked up to Marlene while being pushed out of the way by Alice who resumed her role next to Lily.

"Not much time to explain but basically Sirius woke us up at an ungodly hour by throwing rocks at our window, ended up hitting both Lily and I in the head and now he believes that he seriously hurt Lily and James is pissed at him for it. Both are with Hestia on the way to the common room right now so help us get our revenge, will you?" Marlene said quickly.

Remus laughed and Peter continued to keep probing Lily in the side.

"Peter pretend to look for a cure in this book for Lily's fake issue here," she said, chucking the book at the boy. "And Remus, help Alice in fretting over Lily or help me try out some harmless spells on her to make it look like were trying to wake her up!"

The group of them got into position just as the portrait hole illuminated the common room with light and the frantic voices of James and Sirius.

"You weren't supposed to injure anyone!" they heard James say angrily.

"It was an honest accident!" Sirius exclaimed, rounding the corner.

They both froze at the sight of Lily unconscious on the couch with Alice fretting over her; Peter rummaging through a textbook and shouting things at Marlene and Remus who were both trying different spells on Lily to wake her up.

James sent a death glare at Sirius before striding towards the couch. "Oh Lils," he sighed, brushing a strand of hair off of her forehead. He stood up straight moments later, turning to consult with Marlene and Remus who began to tell him an elaborate story of their attempts at waking her up.

Sirius paced with guilt in front of the fireplace.

"Enneverate?" James suggested, which snapped Sirius out of his funk.

"Did not think of that," Marlene and Remus both lied convincingly.

"How did you get this far in school?" Sirius asked, charging through the group of them, his wand outstretched in his hand striding towards Lily. James grabbed his arm, jerking him back before he had the chance to cast the spell.

"Haven't you done enough damage?" he asked harshly, dragging Sirius towards the side of the common room. "You hurt her once already today, she doesn't need anything else from you!" he yelled which started up yet another fight between the two.

"Go, go, go!" Marlene whispered to the others as she slowly backed away from the feuding boys who were so oblivious to their surroundings that they failed to see the subject of their argument roll off the couch and sprint out of the common room, followed closely by Remus, Peter, Alice and Hestia.

Marlene tiptoed out once the coast was clear; waiting for the portrait hole to close completely before laughing hysterically with the others before taking the lead and running through the corridors towards the Great Hall for Saturday breakfast.

* * *

><p>"I just want to make up for hurting her in the first place, Prongs!" Sirius said, exhausted by the argument.<p>

James just glared. "You made her like this in the first place! Just look at her! She needs someone else to help her!"

Sirius glanced past James' shoulder to look at the auburn-haired girl, but instead found the common room completely deserted except for a sleepy first-year who was walking lazily to the door. "She- they-re gone!"

James spun around and stared in disbelief. "Did they?"

"They did," Sirius confirmed, his hands balling into fists. "I know what she means to you but they are all so dead," he said to James, before striding toward the door.

* * *

><p>Lily smiled as the group of them conversed over breakfast, digging into the bacon, eggs, and toast that the house-elves had so graciously prepared for the early risers.<p>

"EVANS! MCKINNON!" the group heard an angry voice yell from the entrance hall outside the Great Hall.

"I guess they figured it out," Remus shrugged, taking a bite of toast, only to spit it out in laughter when he saw James and Sirius' faces. "I'd run if I was you two," he said in a low voice to Lily and Marlene.

The girls quickly got up, trying to figure out which way to run before the boys reached them. "Climb over the table!" Lily yelled to Marlene who immediately departed from her side to scramble across the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff house tables, distancing herself from the guys. She watched as James went to corner Marlene, and saw his miss her when she dodged his grasp and sprinted out the doors.

Lily gulped when she saw how close Sirius was getting to her, spinning automatically on her heel and sprinting towards the teachers table hoping to access the side door.

"Not so fast!" he screamed, jumping on top of her moving form and tackling her to the ground.

She fought against his grip as he kept her pinned to the ground, to the amusement of all those in the Great Hall.

"Get off of me!" she screeched, her shoulder in pain from the way she landed. "It was Marlene's idea, Black! You should be getting her!"

"Already done!" James Potter announced, walking towards them gripping Marlene's arm as he dragged her to the front. He sat her down next to a struggling Lily.

"Can you get off of me now?!" Lily screamed. "You're going to break my wrists!"

"Padfoot," James warned, noticing how white Lily's hands were getting from Sirius' tight grip.

Sirius eyed the girl down. "You made me think that I had seriously hurt you, Evans!" Sirius said, before releasing her and standing up straight, Lily still on the floor.

"We're sorry?" Lily said, somewhat apologetically.

"You deserved it," Marlene said at the same time.

"Can't bygones be bygones?" Lily said, after accepting James' hand to help her up. She rubbed her aching shoulder.

"There's no way we're getting off of the hook that easily," Marlene whispered to Lily as the two stood in front of the two boys who were talking in hushed tones and eying them suspiciously.

Lily rolled her eyes at the boys before grabbing Marlene's arm and walking around them.

"I don't think so," James said, gripping Lily's arm while Sirius grabbed onto Marlene.

"What?" they both asked, annoyed.

"We have decided on a punishment for the both of you," Sirius said happily.

"We're being punished? For pulling a prank?" Lily asked, shocked.

"I already told you my dear Lilikins," Sirius said, which got a groan from Lily, "you can't pull a prank on us and expect to get away with it."

* * *

><p>AN: All recognizable J.K Rowling content is fully hers and I take no credit for it. Please review if you have time, I really love reading the comments! Sorry for taking so long to update, final projects and exams are this week so I've been going crazy! I will update towards the end of the week, I promise!<p> 


	11. Punishment: Part One

"Evans! McKinnon!" Sirius yelled up the stairs from the common room. "Prongs, why are we so in love with women who take so long to get their arses downstairs?" he asked James, raising his voice at the end for the girls to hear.

James just chuckled at Sirius' antics as he finished cleaning off his Quidditch boots before throwing his practice jersey on overtop of his hoodie.

Upstairs, Marlene groaned as she searched her trunk for her other boot—still only able to find one of the two.

"I sometimes think that you forget that you are a witch," Lily observed as she finished pulling her hoodie over her head, having been watching Marlene's search attempts for nearly 20 minutes.

"It's not that I forget per say," Marlene grumbled as she tossed her possessions out of her trunk and all over the room. "It's more that I misplaced my wand somewhere in this mess."

Lily rolled her eyes at her friend before picking her own wand up off the bed and accioing Marlene's wand and other boot, then moving on to put all her stuff back in her trunk.

"Thanks, Lil!" Marlene said happily as she hopped around trying to pull the boot on before grabbing her Quidditch jersey from the bed.

Lily just laughed hopelessly at the blonde as she pulled on her wellies and tied her hair into a neat, wavy ponytail. She laughed again a few moments later when Marlene started muttering curse words under her breath when Sirius called out for them again.

"You know, I blame you for this ridiculous punishment," Marlene said, tying an elastic around the end of her braid as the two trudged down the stairs.

"Why?" Lily asked skeptically.

"Because if it wasn't for James Potter's obsession with trying to gain your affection, Sirius Black would not have chosen a punishment that requires us to be practically glued to their sides for the next week!" Marlene hissed at her.

"Black wants you just as much as James wants me, just admit that to yourself," Lily teased as they stepped into the common room.

Marlene glared fiercely at her best friend, ready to give her a piece of her mind but was stopped by the sudden appearance of Sirius Black who sauntered over and swung an arm over the blonde's shoulder.

Marlene groaned.

"You'll feel differently by the end of the week," he assured her. "Put this on," he ordered, handing Marlene his practice jersey just as James came up besides Lily, gently passing her his own jersey from fourth year.

"Thanks," Lily said softly, taking it from him, their fingers just grazing each others causing them both to jump a little.

"I already have my own!" Marlene said, still arguing with Sirius, both unaware of the going ons between James and Lily at the time.

"You're wearing mine," Sirius said adamantly. "It is part of the deal, so take it!" he said, pushing it into her hand.

"But I'm on the team! I need to wear my own jersey for the tryouts so the captain knows where I'm supposed to be!" she argued back at him.

"Prongs!"

"Wh-what?" James said after a few moments of silence, having gotten lost in a staring contest with Lily.

"Can you please inform Miss. McKinnon here, that as captain at today's tryout, you do not feel that it is necessary that she wears her own number and therefore has to abide by the rules laid out as part of her punishment?" Sirius asked knowingly.

"Padfoot's right," James confirmed.

"I hate you both," Marlene said, ripping the jersey out of Sirius' hand and pulling it on over top of the rest of her gear.

Following Marlene's lead, Lily slid on James' jersey over top of her hoodie, taking in his scent as it went across her face. She wiggled her nose a little, trying to remember where she had smelled that scent before, knowing that she had never worn or been near enough to him before to have smelt it then.

Once the jersey was on, Lily reached back to pull her ponytail out from underneath the jersey. "Wait, I'm not playing Quidditch, why do I need to have a jersey on if I'm just watching?"

Marlene slapped her hand against her forehead in frustration. "You just—ugh not again Lily!"

"Oh dear Lilikins," Sirius said, happily clapping his hands together. "Let me remind you. This morning you and Marls over there spear-headed a cruel, cruel, cruel prank on myself and Prongs over there, and in doing so you caused us great agony-"

"I still don't under-"

"I am still speaking!" Sirius said loudly, cutting her off. "No speaking until I am finished!"

Lily and Marlene both rolled their eyes at the boy, but remained silent nonetheless.

"Anyways, where was I?"

"You were telling these two that what they pulled this morning made the two of us feel like a couple of rotten blokes and that in doing so they did something much worse than the harmless pranks we pull and therefore they deserved to be punished on a much larger scale, isn't that correct Padfoot?" James said, grinning.

"What he said! So, as we told you before, the punishment that we have so graciously given you is that Marls here has to be with me at all times except in classes that we do not share and during sleep, reluctantly, meanwhile you, Lilikins, have to be tied to James' side unless he says otherwise, and then for sleep and that other nonsense."

"I get it, I get it!" Lily said, holding her hands up in defeat before slumping down on a chair only to be pulled back up by James.

"No sitting down," he said, pulling her across the common room to grab his broom. "We have to get to the Quidditch pitch."

* * *

><p>"I don't get how much help I can be to this process," Lily complained for what seemed the umpteenth time as James continued to carry her over his shoulder down to the pitch.<p>

James just laughed at her as they strode into the Quidditch stadium towards where a large group of Gryffindor Quidditch players were assembled. Sort of.

"James Potter! Put me down now!" she shrieked, hitting him in the back as she desperately did not want to be introduced to the group in such a manner.

"Just hold on there Lils," James chuckled. "Ok," he said a few moments later, slowly releasing Lily from his grasp and gently placing her on the ground in front of him. He grinned internally when her bottle-green eyes stared brightly up at him when she was safely on solid ground. He held her gaze for a short while until she remembered what was happening and quickly looked away, walking a few paces until she was beside him, waiting further instruction.

James continued to watch her as she took in the mayhem of the Quidditch players, and the view from the middle of the pitch, something he was reminded, she had never done before.

"Uh, Captain?" Sirius' voice sounded, interrupting James' thoughts and snapping both James and Lily out of their trances.

They both looked at him and Marlene expectantly, wondering what it was he wanted.

"I think you're supposed to say something," Lily whispered in his ear.

"Right," he said, running his fingers through his hair. She handed him the clipboard he had given her to hold before he took a deep breath and took a step towards the larger group, Lily, Sirius and Marlene lined up behind him. "Right you lot, pay attention!"

Everyone stopped moving and turned towards James, who looked a lot more confident after they all gave him their attention.

"So as you all know these are the tryouts for the Gryffindor House Quidditch team so if there are any of you lot that are not from Gryffindor please make your way off the pitch and watch the tryouts from the stands," he said, loudly, his voice trying to rise above the howling winds.

Lily watched in amusement as a group of girls, probably in about fourth or fifth year stalk off the field, looking back a few times to look at James, Sirius and some of the other boys from the house.

"Right then, anyways for the rest of you who may not know me, I am James Potter and I'm the Captain for the team this year. These tryouts are for everyone, even for those who were on the team last year. Just because you made it then does not mean you are guaranteed a spot on the team this year. We want to see the House Cup back in McGonagall's office at the end of the year and in order to do that we must be the best and to be the best we need a group of strong players who are willing to work together to reach this goal. So now that we've got that er, established," James said, looking over the clipboard for his next set of notes, "we can er, start."

"Line-up?" Lily said into his ear, which made him jump.

"What?"

"You said earlier to Sirius that you were going to try them out in groupings. Watch them as individual positions first and then those who stand out in those groups will be put into trial teams until you get the best order," she said softly, recounting the conversation on the way down.

"This is exactly why you are here," he said, grinning at her before turning back around to the group.

"Ok! So here is how we are going to run this. First I want all the chasers lined up in front of Marlene over there, beaters line up behind that bloke over there," James said, pointing towards Sirius, "Seekers in a line to the right of both of these groups and keepers to the left."

The four six-years watched in amusement as they all scrambled into position.

"Ok so we will start off with chasers first because you are the biggest lot," James announced. "The rest of you can wait off to the side or warm up down at the other end."

James smiled as everyone cooperated and got right to it. "Sirius take them through some drills, the ones we drew up at my place over break," James said, before turning around to Lily.

"What am I supposed to be doing?" Marlene asked, butting in.

"Follow Sirius?" Lily said unknowingly.

"It is the deal," James shrugged, which made Marlene growl before mounting her broom and taking off towards the chasers.

James turned back around to Lily who was smiling back at him, something he didn't think he'd ever get tired of.

"Would you mind helping me out?" he asked, slowly passing her his clipboard again.

She took it into her grasp, before accepting his quill from him. "What do you need me to do?" she asked. "Captain," she added teasingly as she grinned up at him.

"Take notes about what I say for each player?"

"Sure," she said, flipping to a fresh sheet of paper before scribbling all the player's numbers down. She looked up a few minutes later to see James looking at her expectantly. "What?" she asked, worried he was going back to being that boy that never stopped asking her out.

"Well you have to come with me," he said simply, as if it was obvious as he sat waiting on his broom.

Lily's eyes widened. "No, I'm good, I think I'll just sit here," she said, looking down at the muddy ground, "in the mud," she added, a little put off by the conditions.

"Lils, you have to," James pleaded. "How else are you going to hear what I need to say without me shouting it out to everyone, which might I add, would entirely defeat the purpose."

She looked at him, weighing her options. Lily bit her lip nervously before she hesitantly approached the broom. She hopped on behind James, tightly gripping his waist as he kicked off.

James turned around a couple of times as they flew towards the Chasers, watching as her facial expressions changed from that of being petrified to being slightly more at ease.

"James, how exactly am I supposed to write anything down if I'm gripping onto your waist for dear life?" Lily questioned.

"Well you could let go," James suggested, which just made her grip his waist tighter. "Or not," he laughed at her antics. "Charm the quill to record what I say?"

"I can do that," she said, pulling her wand out and saying the incantation.

"Now all you have to do is hold onto the clipboard," he said smiling before he launched into conducting the practice, Lily smiling behind him.

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry this is not a very long chapter, but the punishment is a week so it will take a couple chapters to full show, well some of the stuff I have planned :) I promise that I will try not to disappoint with the week of the girls being tied to the two boys sides! I will update soon, well as soon as my other story get their well deserved 17th chapter!<p> 


	12. Punishment: Part Two

"Ah, Lovely Lily, I was beginning to worry that you weren't going to show today," Slughorn said jollily as Lily came into his dungeon classroom closely followed by James, Sirius and Marlene, "Never the less, please take a seat beside Mr. Snape up front here," he said, guiding Lily towards her seat as he continued to talk about the instructions.

Lily looked behind to her friends who all stood at the back of the class at a loss of what to do, but she breathed a sigh of release when a loud, obnoxious cough made Slughorn turn around.

"Mr. Black, do you have something you would like to say about today's potion assignment?" he asked quizzically, eyebrows raised.

"I don't have too much to say about the working assignment but I do have something to contribute involving partner assignments," Sirius said to Slughorn, his voice not carrying an ounce of arrogance much to Lily's surprise.

"Oh oh, do you?" Slughorn began, "and what pray tell is your problem with your assigned partner, who I have yet to assign?"

"It's not my pairing I have a problem with, Sir. It is Miss. Evans partner assignment that I have a slight problem with."

"Mr. Black, the classroom is no place for playground rivalries," Slughorn said with a shake of his head.

"This has nothing to do with Sniv- I mean Severus, Sir. It has something more to do with the fact that Miss. Evans over there is currently serving time for a crime she committed earlier this week," Sirius said, a grin tugging at his lips.

Professor Slughorn looked at the boy oddly before turning to Lily whose face had gone red from both embarrassment and her internal desire to burst out laughing at Sirius' charade.

"Is this true, Lily?" he asked her.

"More or less, Sir," she answered with her most respectful voice.

Slughorn checked his pocket watch and sighed loudly. "Very well then, Mr. Black. Who is Miss. Evans supposed to work with if she is not to be partnered with Severus here?"

James stepped forward awkwardly; holding his one hand up while the other ran through his hair. "That would be me, Sir."

"Very well, come sit at the bench with Miss. Evans," Slughorn said hurriedly. "Mr. Black, is there anything else I should know about before I proceed with assigning the remaining partners?"

"I must be with Miss. McKinnon for the week," he said with a smile.

"Very well then, sit down the both of you," he said, ushering them to a table across the room from James, Lily and Snape, all of whom had ended up at the same table.

Slughorn went on, quickly assigning partners.

"And last, but most certainly not least," he said as he peered down at the list in front of him, "Severus you can be paired with Mr. Derrowdeep," he concluded. Lily watched as the shy boy from Hufflepuff went to sit nervously beside Severus who eyed him down before turning away.

"Now that we can begin," Slughorn said, standing by the board as he eyed down Sirius, "Today's class will consist of concocting a draft of the Deflating Draught that is found on page 246 of your textbook. You have until the end of class to finish the potion. Good-luck!"

Before James had even pulled his textbook out of his bag, Lily had already opened hers to the correct page and had lined out their ingredients in the correct order before them.

"Brilliant," he said, a little dumbstruck by how she moved so quickly.

Slughorn came over to their table just as Lily was about to turn on the burner. "This change of partners provides me with an excellent opportunity to test my two best students a little further that I usually would do. Now since you both have not started mixing any ingredients yet, Lily and Severus, I want both of you to take a step back and watch as your partners work to concoct the potion. I would like to see how well you can offer instructions and in what kind of manner you do so. Good-luck," he said, smiling as he departed their table to continue on his lap around the classroom.

Lily and James stifled a laugh as they watched Severus' face drop at the announcement and as he forcefully flung his knife down into the table.

"Right then, you'll need this," Lily said as she carefully placed her own knife into James' calloused hand. "So the first step...," she said as she started guiding him through the potion instructions.

All throughout the class, James couldn't help but marvel at Lily's teaching methods, the way she would tell him what needed to be done and then as he was doing it, why that was the case. He had never understood the art of potion making until that point.

When they were waiting for the potion to boil a little until they finished the final steps, James tried actually talking to the girl who had been his fascination since he first stepped foot on the Hogwarts Express.

"So what do you normally do on weekends around here?" he asked her while he sat and watched her pack up the potion ingredients they no longer had a need for.

She looked at him, her bottle-green eyes meeting his hazel for a moment, trying to figure out what he was getting at before she answered moments later. "I normally go to the library to do work, or out to the grounds if it's nice enough," she said softly. "Sometimes I come down here and practice with Slughorn and some other members of the Slug-Club, or I find some friends and play board games," she continued on, telling James about a couple of times her and some other muggle-borns had decided to play some board-games they knew and how funny it had been when some of their friends who hadn't grown up in the muggle world were so enthralled by the simplest of games.

James smiled the whole time she had talked. He couldn't understand why this girl who was so exceptional had finally given him the time of day.

"James?" she said, poking him in the arm.

He had been daydreaming. "Yes?" he said suddenly, falling a little off his stool before he regained his composure.

"We have to do the last bit of the potion," she said, before she leaned in close to him, whispering in his ear, "And if we move quickly we can still beat Snape," she said, her voice smiling in his ear.

"Let's do this," James whispered back, determinedly.

Lily spoke softly, but quickly, leaving out the extra-bits she had been telling him before and focusing solely on the instructions.

While James continued dicing up one of the last ingredients, sprinkling it into the cauldron, Lily perched herself up on her tiptoes right behind him so she'd be able to whisper something to him so no one else could hear. "The next few things I'm going to tell you to add are not what the textbook orders but they are right."

James turned to look at her.

"Trust me," she said.

He simply nodded and turned back to the final ingredients, adding them and cutting them exactly as she said and soon enough they were out of ingredients and he finished the final stir.

"Professor?" Lily called across the classroom the moment James set down the stir stick.

"Are you done already?" he asked, a wide grin spread across his face as he bustled over towards them, slipping in between them as he went about inspecting their potion. "Perfect, absolutely perfect, 15 points to Gryffindor," he admired. He looked to James, "you have a wonderful teacher here, Mr. Potter. Dare I say almost better than myself!" the older man chuckled, patting his protruding belly as he did. "Lily, would you mind if I put this one with the others? You never know when you might need such a thing in the first year classes," he said with a laugh.

"Of course not, Professor," Lily said, smiling back at him before he walked away and she turned towards James. "You did brilliantly," she said, clearly proud of what he accomplished.

"It's because of you and you know it," James said while they both packed up their bags and waited for the rest of the class to finish.

"I didn't do anything, it was all you," she said, still smiling brilliantly at him.

He leaned in closer to her. "How did you know to change the instructions and ingredients?" he asked, eying the room around them as he did for eavesdroppers.

Lily shrugged teasingly. "Not a clue," she chuckled, just as Slughorn dismissed the class. "I'll meet you in the hall," she said not a moment later, stepping around him as she walked towards the front of the room where both Slughorn and Snape and two others waited for her.

James continued watching her as he walked out of the classroom, bumping into Sirius on his way.

"Watch where you're going there, mate," Sirius said, throwing an arm over his shoulder as they departed the classroom.

Outside, Remus was chatting with a couple of girls that James didn't recognize right away but once they turned around he noticed it was Sophie Vembulom a brilliant Hufflepuff in their year and Sarah Gawrmdry, a Ravenclaw who he had seen Lily pair up with in class a couple of times over the years.

"She's crazy isn't she?" Sirius said, smiling like a Cheshire cat as he did.

James snapped back to reality. "Whose crazy?"

"Well you, but I was talking about Lily in Potions," Sirius said just as Lily came out of the classroom following Snape. "Speak of the devil!" he exclaimed, clapping Lily on the back.

"Hi Sirius," she said, trying to laugh.

"James here was just about to tell me how my favourite Potions partner treated him today," Sirius continued, his arm still around Lily as they sauntered off down the hall towards Herbology.

Lily laughed at the both of them, ducking out from underneath Sirius' arm and running up ahead to catch up to Remus and the girls.

"But seriously, how was she?" said Sirius seriously.

James shook his head. "I get what you mean now, she's absolutely brilliant," James said, his eyes locked on the back of Lily's head up ahead. "I don't know how she does it though," he said, his voice low, "She was saying stuff and switching stuff contrary to what the textbook was instructing."

"Isn't it awesome?" Sirius said, "I mean Lily-flower up there is the ultimate Potions partner for top grades. I mean she is one of Slughorn's ultimate favourites, she's actually brilliant at the subject—matched with or possibly better than Snivellus, and she's not bad to look at!"

James glared at Sirius.

"Chill out mate, we all know she's yours," Sirius chuckled, "but no one in this school can deny that she's gorgeous."

He looked at her up ahead, picking up her books off the floor after turning a corner and running into another student. James watched as she apologized profusely to the boy who couldn't help but look at the redhead in front of him, her hair sweeping in front of her eyes as she hurried to grab all her belongings.

"I'm terribly sorry, really," she said quickly, standing up and straightening her books out in her arms.

"It's alright," the boy said, his eyes still locked on her eyes, which had failed to look back at him. "I'm David, by the way," he said. James watched as Lily finally looked up, a soft smile dawning on her face.

He watched as she fumbled with her books a little so she could extend her hand to the boy. "Lily," she said happily.

"Lily?" Remus said a couple of seconds later, once the two had shaken hands.

James breathed a sigh of relief when Lily immediately turned to look at Remus.

Lily looked at Remus and automatically turned back to David, muttering a quick goodbye and final apology before she and Remus, along with Hestia, Marlene, and Alice walked around him and quickly up the corridor towards the greenhouses. James and Sirius nodded at the boy as they passed him before quickly jogging up to the rest of the group. Sirius pulled on Lily's elbow when he was finally within reach.

"You're going to make me drop my books again there, Black," she said jokingly.

"You're still being punished," Sirius said, staring down at her, "And the punishment clearly stated that you were supposed to be next to James at all time-"

"Except for those times when we had to be separated for dire circumstances which may or may not include going to the loo, sleeping and classes which we have apart," Lily finished listing off.

"Well aren't you just full of sass," Sirius said as they continued walking behind the group. "But I just thought you might need a little reminding, especially after this morning's class," Sirius said, trying to cover up for his true reason for reminding the girl.

"I understand, I'll try to be better," Lily said cheekily, which made James grin, especially once he saw Sirius shocked expression. Lily turned to James, walking backwards as she did. "That reminds me I have prefect duties Thursday night with Remus. I'm not sure if you're supposed to come with me or if because Remus is there you are excused. Nonetheless I thought I'd give you a heads up," she said, smiling before she turned back around and rushed into the greenhouse where Professor Sprout was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the students.

"Now today we will be starting on…"

* * *

><p>"So do you have the team picked out yet, Captain?" Marlene asked when the sixth years finally sat down to dinner that night after their seemingly never ending day.<p>

"Almost, but not quite," James said, after he finished chewing the forkful of food he had just shoved into his mouth.

"Have to finish looking over the chasers?" Lily asked.

James and Sirius both looked at her oddly.

"I was paying attention when you were talking," she said, laughing.

James and Sirius both just shook their heads and kept talking about what James was thinking for the team while Remus and Lily discussed the new Alchemy assignment. Marlene was talking with Hestia, laughing about Hestia's latest crush whilst Alice and Frank, who had just joined them talked with Peter about the Divination project.

"Er, Lily, behind you," Remus said oddly in the midst of their conversation.

Lily raised an eyebrow at him, but he just nodded to behind her. She turned around slowly.

"Severus," she said curtly.

"Hate to break up this…" Snape said slowly, observing the group of Gryffindors in front of him, "excitement…. But Evans it's time."

Lily looked down at her watch.

"Oh," she said, scrambling to gather her things. "Right, well I will see you in the common room in a bit," she said, before she walked with Severus out of the hall.

"James?" Alice asked, poking the boy in the ribs.

"Yes, yup?" he said flustered.

"Isn't it part of your deal that you're supposed to be with her at all times, or rather she with you?" Hestia asked next, grinning at him as she waited for him to clue in.

"Yes it is!" James said excitedly, before he too hopped off the bench and ran out of the great hall after Lily and Snape.

He entered the entrance hall but couldn't see them anywhere. James darted towards the stairwells, looking up and down before he finally spotted a flash of red, that he knew to be Lily's hair. He ran quickly down the stairs, praying all the way that the staircases wouldn't change and deposit him off on some other wing, far away from Lily.

"Lily!" he called out when he finally reached the dungeon level and could just make out hers and Snape's shapes up ahead.

Snape groaned when he heard Potter's voice, and clung onto Lily's elbow tightly. He watched out of the corner of his eye as she turned her head to see who was calling out for her behind them, but he cursed when he heard her say his name breathlessly.

"He's not supposed to be here," Snape growled at her.

Lily just looked at him for a brief second, anger painted on her face before she flashed a bright smile at James who had finally caught up to them.

"Forgotten already have you?" he said, a quirky grin tugging at the corner of his lips.

She looked at him quizzically for a second before she burst out laughing. "No, no of course not," she chuckled, angering Snape further, whose nails were officially digging into her skin. "Severus you can let go now, I'm coming," she said, with firmness in her voice. "James, I really have to go," she said.

He smiled quirkily at her. "Well then, let's go," he said merrily, grabbing her arm and following Snape down the corridor.

"I really don't think you want to come to this. It won't be that fun for you," she said, trying to get him to change his mind.

"You pulled a prank, a really terrible prank on me and this is your punishment," he said, grinning.

"This will be a punishment for you, not for me," she said knowingly, but James wasn't having any of it.

"Professor?" Lily called out, after knocking on his office door and walking in with James behind her.

"Ah, Lily, Lily, Lovely Lily," he said, shaking her hand as she walked into the room. "Ah and Mr. Potter, always nice to have guests," he said, shaking James' hand.

"Good evening to you as well, Sir," James said cordially, shocking Lily as she took her seat. "What exactly happens here?" James asked Lily in a low whisper.

Lily grinned mischievously. "Oh it's just something some of the more advanced students in Slughorn's Potions classes do one evening every couple of weeks," she said nonchalantly.

"Which is?" James asked, still very confused.

"For your information, Potter," Snape spat, "this is for Slughorn's most exceptional students. He likes to hear our opinions on the latest advancements in the potions world, amongst other things. Nothing people like you would really have an interest for, dare I say."

James was about to open his mouth when Lily stepped in, sensing the tension.

"Severus," she said none too kindly, "James is here to observe and keep me company as part of my punishment for a prank I pulled on them last weekend, so would you do us a favor and keep your opinion on matters that do not relate to potions to yourself?" Lily asked, harshly and so only Severus could really hear her.

Snape and Lily glared at one another much to James' amusement until they all heard Professor Slughorn greet the final two members of the group.

"Ah, Miss. Rowle and Mr. Damble, please take a seat and we shall begin," James heard Professor Slughorn say when the final two students entered the room.

"And now the fun begins," Lily said quietly to James, a hint of amusement in her voice, just as Slughorn presented his first article on some new potion or another.

* * *

><p>"Well wasn't that just enticing?" Lily said happily once they had escaped Slughorn's office many hours later.<p>

"How do you do that?" James asked, rather loudly, causing some of the nearby pictures to yell back at him. Lily laughed.

"It's normally a lot more interesting," she said modestly, "but that may just be because I'm not normally sitting there wondering how boring it must be for someone who doesn't enjoy potions quite to the same extent."

"So you were thinking about me that whole time?"

She blushed profusely, not that he could see in the dark hallway. "No, well yes, maybe!" she said oddly before taking a deep breath and explaining what she meant. "What I mean to say is yes I was thinking about you, but," she added, once noticing the smile on his face, "only because you didn't know what you were getting into and because it can be quite boring."

"It really was," James admitted, earning him a slap on the arm from redhead. "Hey," he complained, "you just admitted it too!"

Lily just shook her head as they finally reached the Portrait hole to the common room.

"So how simulating was tonight's conversation?" Hestia chuckled once the two came around the corner.

"You all knew!?" James hollered, once he noticed Lily, Marlene, Remus, Sirius, Peter and Hestia all laughing at him.

"Of course we knew," Sirius said, still rolling around laughing, "why else do you think we made it seem like such a big deal!?"

James ran across the room and tackled Sirius.

"So really, how was it?" Remus asked Lily once she had taken a seat next to him.

"Tonight's was a little less interesting than usual but the new potions they are developing are beyond compare. Next meeting will be far more interesting," Lily said, yawning.

"Someone's tired," James commented finally getting up off of Sirius and dusting off the dirt from his robes.

"Extremely so," Lily yawned once again.

"Well I'm tired as well, want to go up?" Hestia asked Lily, standing up and closing her books up.

"Sounds lovely," the redhead witch said smiling before bidding goodnight to the boys and Marlene and following Hestia up the stairs.

Marlene stayed down in the common room for a while, chatting with Remus and Peter whilst James and Sirius discussed the adventures, but left after a while claiming her weariness.

Remus and Peter turned to their friends after to get up to date on tomorrow's plan.

"You're going to try to make Lily Evans skip class?" Peter asked incredulously.

"There's no way it's going to happen, mate," Remus chuckled, believing the task to be impossible.

"See that's where you're wrong, Moony, old chum," Sirius said. "You see, when Lilikins hears of our plan she's immediately going to turn to you or Pete here to help us see reason-"

"And you expect us to turn to her and tell her that because she played the prank she is being punished and therefore as she and Marlene agreed they have to do everything you tell them to do for the remainder of this week. Did I leave anything out?" Remus said, sounding quite bored.

"Exactly!" James and Sirius hollered together.

"Well we can do what we can, but don't forget she holds rank," Peter said, still shaking his head at the idea.

James and Sirius went silent. "Er, exactly how does her being a prefect stop us from forcing her to skip class tomorrow?"

"Well for one it's a respectful position that she earned by being a good student that others can look up to and making her skip class may not work in your favor because she could get in trouble and then blame you for all eternity," Remus respond with a smirk. Sirius chucked a pillow at him.

"One class being skipped isn't going to hurt her," Sirius reasoned.

"Well that depends, what class are you making her skip?" Peter asked, intrigued.

James looked at Sirius. "We were thinking of pulling Lily and Marlene out of Arithmancy tomorrow," he said after a few moments.

"Are you both insane?" Remus gawked.

"Quite possibly yes," James said grinning, "but what has that got to do with this?"

"Arithmancy is incredibly difficult and Professor Varrowe gets insanely angry when people miss his lectures!" Remus shouted. "Why don't you just take them out of charms or something? At least that way Lily can apologize profusely to Flitwick and not get in an insane amount of trouble," Remus reasoned, his voice much calmer.

James and Sirius thought it over for a while before agreeing to the plan. James called it a night and went up to bed, Sirius hanging back a little.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were the one who liked Lily," Sirius said as he and Remus ascended the stairs.

"I don't, at least not in the way that Prongs does," Remus said quietly. "You wouldn't quite understand, not having been in close proximity for her too long."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sirius, she's more special than I think even Prongs knows," Remus said, just before they entered their dormitory, "She has a way of seeing people and talking to people that is so unlike every other girl in this school. You feel better about yourself after a conversation with her—try it out sometime."

* * *

><p>"Oh no, no, no. I absolutely refuse!" Lily practically screamed when Sirius and James grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away from the charms corridor against her will. "Remus!"<p>

"I can't help you," he said, his hands up in the air.

"But, but I can't miss charms! I'm a prefect, I can't skip class!" she continued to protest as James and Sirius with the help of Marlene continued to drag her down the corridor away from the rest of the group who had proceeded to go on to Flitwick's class.

"Lily would you stop screaming already," Marlene complained, casting a silencing charm on Lily finally.

"Good work, McKinnon," Sirius said as they pulled a struggling Lily down one of the lesser used corridors in the school, where they proceeded to push her into an alcove behind a statue, all of them shuffling in behind her.

"Now we're going to lift the charm, but only if you promise to stop screaming," Marlene said calmly.

Lily glared at all of them before her head turned back to Marlene and nodded slowly.

Sirius and James held their breath as Marlene removed the silencing charm, but exhaled after a while when they noticed Lily wasn't screaming at them. But she did hit them.

"Now that that's done with, why are we skipping?" Lily asked, staring directly at James.

"Because you've never done it before and you need to skip at least once before you leave Hogwarts," James reasoned with her.

She seemed to accept this, at least as much as Lily Evans could.

"And we figured this week would be the best opportunity to make you skip," Sirius said grinning.

"Fine, fine, you all win, now where are we going?" Lily said, looking at them expectantly.

"Oh you'll see," James said, grinning like a mad-man as he grabbed a hold of her hand, just as Sirius grabbed Marlene's and sneaked down the hallway slightly before revealing a hidden corridor behind the one-eyed witch statue.

"What? Where does this-"

Lily screamed when all of a sudden she was falling through the air, unable to see anything. She stopped screaming though when she suddenly landed on something, or someone soft.

"Stop laughing," she chuckled when she came face to face with James, her still comfortably in his arms as he walked a little down the passage way.

"Come on, and stop asking questions or you will ruin the fun," James said, laughing back, as he placed her down on her own two feet and started walking ahead of her, down the dark, damp, cramped passageway.

Lily and James walked along quietly; the only sound filling the silence was the sound of Marlene and Sirius bantering back and forth.

"Ok, watch your step," James finally said once they were almost at the end. "I'm going to go first, I'll haul you up afterwards, alright?"

"Right then, go on," Lily said, eying the trap door above oddly.

"Here, give me your hand," James called down to her. Marlene pushed the redhead forward.

"What is- is this actually?" Lily asked in awe, spinning around the storeroom they were in—the shelves filled with all of her favourite candies and chocolate from the wizarding world. Marlene reacted similarly to Lily, which made the boys chuckle.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Sirius said merrily, grabbing Lily's wrist and dragging her up the stairs, James and Marlene following behind.

"You've got to be joking!" Lily gasped when they walked into Honeydukes shop, and James and Sirius walked ahead to greet the elderly shopkeeper whose smile widened when he saw the young lads.

Lily and Marlene continued to walk around the shop, finally able to see all the products without the masses of Hogwarts students blocking their way. The girls, followed closely by the boys eventually left the shop to explore a little bit of the village and grab some butterbeers before they slipped back down the cellar into the one-eyed witch passageway and back into Hogwarts before the last classes of the day ended.

* * *

><p>"So how was your summer, Lily?" Remus asked her as they walked along the moonlit corridors late Thursday night.<p>

"It was lovely, for the most part," she admitted.

"Go on," he said, bumping her shoulder.

"Well Petunia has a new boyfriend you see, and to put it nicely he is an oversized walrus," she said, so nonchalantly that Remus burst out laughing at her serious expression. Lily continued on, chuckling a little, as the boy's laugh was contagious. "Petunia was the best she's been in ages, she even asked about school once or twice but I was careful not to mention some of the more absurd things we did last year. But she changed," Lily said a little quieter, "When he came over. I suppose it's because he's a muggle and she wants to make sure that I don't say anything that could ruin their relationship, which I understand to an extent. But with him, I feel like I'm losing my sister to some man who doesn't deserve her."

"He may not deserve her, but he might be what she needs," Remus said after mulling the thought over for a few silent moments.

"Perhaps, but enough about me, how was it this summer? Are they getting any easier?" Lily asked him seriously.

Remus looked at her, still completely confused as to why she still talked to him after she found out, or why she was always so interested in his well being after the fact. He shook his head. "Summer was alright, despite the transformations. Dad was still being dad. I think he still blames himself for what happened to me, but I can't think of anything to make him feel better. It's taking a toll on him, and mum, not that they admit it to me. But I can hear them talking, though they think I am fast asleep…." Remus said, his voice trailing off.

Lily softly placed her hand on his shoulder and made a circling motion, comforting the taller boy. "Parents can be odd that way, they always want to carry the weight of their child's world on their shoulders despite the child's protests. They do it out of love, and I think that's what we have to remember, both of us," Lily said softly, giving Remus a soft smile. "I think parents want to be able to protect their kids from everything and anything that can hurt them. Perhaps your father just feels like he failed to be a proper father when you needed him the most."

Remus stood still, looking out the fifth floor window out into the courtyard. He sat there for a while, Lily at his side, not saying a thing as he thought through what she had just said.

"How do you always know how to phrase things?" he asked, turning towards her.

"I'm really not sure," she admitted, laughing a little. "Remus," she said softly, "always remember that although the werewolf will always be a part of you, it isn't all you. You are so much more than what you believe yourself to be."

Remus just hugged her tightly, a hug which Lily graciously accepted. She looked down at her watch once they had parted and smiled up at Remus brightly.

"Well we're done for the night," she said, grabbing a hold of his arm and running through the corridors quickly, back to Gryffindor tower.

Remus said the password once they reached the common room and the two entered, laughing as they thought about the things that the portraits had yelled at them when they had come barreling down the halls at top speed at such a late hour.

Lily quickly greeted James who was sitting on the sofa, doing some homework, before she sprinted up the stairs to bed.

"How come you didn't come tonight?" Remus asked, falling onto the couch next to James.

"Figured she might need a break from me," James shrugged. "How was it though?"

"Just a usual patrol night," Remus answered, yawning. He got up off the couch and headed towards the stairs before he turned around. "Prongs, hold on to her for dear life, and never let go. You won't find a girl like Lily, again," Remus said, shocking James before he ran up the steps.

"Only thing is, she's not mine," James said to himself quietly, before going back to his notes.

* * *

><p>On Saturday morning, the final day of Lily's and Marlene's punishment, James and Sirius woke them up at 4:30 in the morning, leaving the girls with only two hours of sleep, having kept them up all night playing multiple games of spin the bottle and exploding snaps.<p>

Lily rolled out of bed and pulled on her willies, bunching up her plaid pajamas as she did. She pulled on multiple sweatshirts and half-heartedly braided her wavy hair back off her face before she wrapped her Gryffindor scarf around her face and pulled on a toque over her head.

Marlene and Lily grunted at one another once they were ready, too early for actual words. Together they trudged down the stairs and walked straight into James and Sirius who were unusually chipper for the early hour. The boys each picked up their respective girl once they had knocked into them and threw them over each of their shoulders, knowing they were far too tired to walk, or pay attention to any impending walls.

The boys carried them in a fireman's carry for a long enough period of time for both the girls to fall back asleep. James and Sirius were both perfectly content, sitting by the lake watching the girl's sleep soundly in their laps, but after a while decided they needed to get on with their day. James and Sirius counted each other down before they picked up Lily and Marlene respectively and through them into the lake. The girls shrieked louder than they even knew possible.

The girls were furious with the boys while they walked through freezing cold water, failing multiple times to make it up the shore slope that was slippery from the amount of water that had washed up against it over the years. Lily and Marlene both reached for their wands the minute they made it back onto solid ground but realized that in their tired state that morning they had forgotten to grab them. James and Sirius eventually took pity on them, pulling their own wands out of their pockets and drying the girls clothing off so they could spend the next couple of hours left with the girls doing what they loved most: flying.


	13. Suspects and Secrets

"Don't you think it's odd? I think it's odd," Peter rambled to Sirius as they meandered their way through students rushing to get to their next class.

Remus and James who had heard the conversation from where they stood waiting for their friends, looked at each other questioningly before speaking up. "Wormtail, what's so odd?"

"I think it's odd the way that Lily acts around the sixth-year Slytherin girls compared to everyone else who calls her a... you-know-what," Peter explained as they continued on their way to Transfiguration.

"How exactly does she act?" Remus asked curiously.

"She doesn't," Sirius said simply.

"I'm lost," James muttered.

"I meant, she doesn't act, or react to them at all when they insult her, she just takes it," Sirius explained for Peter who was unable to explain it correctly.

"Exactly!" Peter exclaimed.

"So you think it's strange that Lily doesn't react to the Slytherin's when they insult her lineage?" Remus asked, attempting to set the record straight.

"Basically," Sirius and Peter both shrugged.

"Well did you ask her why that was?" James asked, or rather suggested.

"We tried, but she just shrugged us off!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Have you considered the possibility that maybe she's just gotten over the name calling by now and has chosen to take the higher road?" Remus asked the two.

Sirius and Peter went silent.

"Well… no," Sirius admitted after a moment.

"Well nevertheless, I'm sure if you asked Lily it wouldn't be as big of a deal as you're both making it seem," Remus said logically.

"What girls in Slytherin are you even talking about?" James asked as they entered the Transfiguration classroom.

"Isabelle Rowle and Ava MacDougal mainly," Sirius answered.

Remus burst out laughing, which made many heads turn towards the group of them. The boys moved quietly to their seats before continuing their conversation.

"Why is it so funny?" Peter pestered Remus.

"Because Lily used to be best-friends with the two of them up until this year!" he exclaimed.

"Key words: used to be!" Sirius argued. "She also used to be friends with Snape and now she gets mad at him anytime he comes near her. If they are anything like him, wouldn't she react the same way to them?"

"He's right," James shrugged. "If they aren't friends anymore because they showed their true colours like Snape, then don't you think that perhaps she'd react the same way to their betrayal?"

Remus sighed; he couldn't deny the logic. He looked past the boys towards where Lily sat, surrounded by the other Gryffindor girls. James, Sirius and Peter all looked towards her for a couple of moments too, but quickly turned away when they thought the girls noticed the attention.

"So if she's acting differently towards them than anyone else, why is she doing it?" James questioned the group. But they all just shrugged—they didn't have a clue.

"Well this was pointless," Sirius said, slumping back in his seat.

"I think that all we can do is keep an eye out for any more suspicious behavior," Remus told the three boys. "If there is something more going on, at least if we are watching, we can step in to help if need be."

The three boys nodded in agreement with what the brains of their group had said, all turning to look at Lily and then the Slytherin girls beyond her before turning to the front to listen to McGonagall as she began lecturing them once again about their N.E.W.T.S next year.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe we almost missed it," Remus exclaimed as he and Lily raced through the halls, eager to catch the tail end of dinner.<p>

"Do you ever think we study too intently?" she asked, but that just caused the both of them to erupt in laughter just outside the hall.

Once they settled down, both of them turned to enter but Lily abruptly bumped into another student who was exiting at the time.

"I'm terribly sorry," Lily said, exasperated, as she looked up into the face of a Slytherin by the name of Isabella Rowle, who was closely accompanied by her twin brother Theodore, and a couple of other Slytherin's, including Ava MacDougal.

"Sure you are, mudblood," Isabella gawked, dusting off her robes before purposefully bumping into Lily's shoulder, whispering, "check your pocket," so only Lily could hear before she continued on towards the grand staircase.

Remus grabbed Lily's hand, helping her to stand up, his gaze still locked on the retreating Slytherin's forms. "She's changed drastically," he commented, referring to the dark brown haired beauty that had bumped into her just moments before. "When did that happen?"

Lily fumbled around in her pocket, until her hands grasped onto a crumbled up piece of parchment. She smiled. Lily turned to look at Remus. "Not sure," she said softly, hoping he hadn't noticed the grin that had spread across her face not moments before. "Come on, let's go," she said, grabbing a hold of his arm and dragging him into the hall, "Let's pray there is still some food left."

Upon entering the hall, both of their eyes automatically fell on a group of people that were sitting at the far end of the Gryffindor table, still picking away at their food as they laughed and chatted. Lily quickly took a seat with the girls who greeted her merrily before they started joking about her tardiness to dinner.

"I think you may be right, Wormtail," Remus said to the boys as he took his own seat at the opposite end from Lily. He looked at the auburn-haired girl as he said it, which made the others automatically follow his gaze.

"What makes you say that?" Sirius asked, still looking at Lily, though the others had looked away by this point.

"Well, when we just came in, Lily accidently bumped into Isabella Rowle and she called her a mudblood. The Isabella I always knew would never in a million years call Lily that," Remus sighed. "So I think Peter's right. I think Voldemort's gotten to them, convinced them of his own ideals."

"Even if that's true, what can we do?" Sirius said.

"We can't do anything but keep an eye out for her," James said, speaking up for the first time. "Lily will ask for help if she needs it. She wouldn't want any of us to protect her unnecessarily."

"James is right," Remus said, "We should just keep our eyes out for any suspicious behavior and then act accordingly."

"Marauder's pact?" James suggested. They all agreed.

Down at the other end of the table, Lily smiled as Hestia went on about the boy who she was paired with for a project in Muggle Studies, who had apparently finally returned her affections.

"His name is Jacob Zegwater," Hestia said proudly, "He knows you Lily. His brother, the one you bumped into in the hall last week, David, really likes you apparently."

Lily choked a little on her potatoes.

"Isn't he a seventh year?" Marlene questioned.

"Yes, but anyways, Jacob says that all he's done for the past few months since school ended last year is talk about some beautiful Gryffindor red-head," Hestia said, grinning at her friend who blushed so hard her skin matched the colour of her hair.

"Well that's nice of him," Lily said, regaining her composure after a few moments.

Alice and Marlene laughed at her response. "So have you started work on the assignment yet?" Alice asked the blonde, who launched into conversation about her rather dumb partner who wouldn't do anything but watch her oddly during class. Hestia took the chance while they were immersed in conversation to tell Lily something else.

"He may have also asked if you would go on a double date with him to Hogsmeade the next time we go visit, with Jacob and I," Hestia half said, half pleaded with Lily.

Lily looked down at her plate for a moment, before her gaze went towards where a certain raven-haired boy with glasses sat a ways down from her. Hestia followed her friend's gaze.

"I wouldn't ask you if I didn't feel I needed to," Hestia said softly, turning back to Lily. "Just one day, please, and then I'll never ask you for anything again," she pleaded.

Lily relented. "Of course, Hest," she said. Hestia smiled brightly before hugging Lily tightly. "Just please don't tell him… he'll think I'm back to hating him again," Lily pleaded with Hestia this time.

"Do you like him?"

"He's a really good friend," Lily said, smiling softly. "I kind of wish I knew it before now," she admitted.

"So do you like him?"

Lily just shook her head. "I don't know," she said simply.

She reached into her robe pocket when everyone else was looking elsewhere. Beside her, beneath the table, Lily un-crumpled the parchment that Isabella had slipped into her pocket in their encounter earlier.

_Friday night. 7__th__ floor corridor, by the tapestry. 10pm sharp. Burn this as soon as you get to your common room. Love you, Lils! –ISABELLA, SOPHIE, AVA AND SARAH _

Lily smiled at the parchment before crumpling it back up and jamming it back into her robe pocket.

"Ready to go, Lily?" Hestia elbowed her.

"Yes, sure," she said quickly, getting up from the table and following the group out, just as the teachers got out of their seats and started shooing the remaining students out of the hall.

* * *

><p>James watched wearily as Ava MacDougal and Narcissa Black advanced down the hallway towards where he, Lily, Sirius and Alice were walking. He and Sirius both tensed as they watched the two Slytherin's snicker in Lily's direction before purposefully bumping into her shoulder causing her to drop the books that she had in her arms, before they continued on their journey down the corridor.<p>

"Here," Alice said, passing Lily one of her texts. "When did Ava turn to the dark side?" she asked, once both girls had stood up, all textbooks accounted for.

"Over the summer, I guess," Lily said simply, before continuing on her way.

"Too bad, she didn't seem half bad," Alice commented, looking over her shoulder at the dirty blonde haired girl.

"She's a Slytherin, they're all bad," Sirius grumbled from behind them.

Lily shook her head. "It's not fair to group them all together under the same label just because of your family, Sirius," Lily replied, looking the dark haired boy in the eyes. "It's that kind of thinking that caused the war," she sighed.

Sirius muttered something no one could understand under his breath, but apparently James, who shot a look at his friend.

Alice, noting the tension, grabbed a hold of Sirius' arm and dragged him on ahead; discussing a much brighter subject than the one they had been on before.

"It still bugs him, you know," James said to Lily, "He tries not to show it, tries to seem like he's past it all, but having your family oust you and cast you off to the side takes its toll."

"I know," Lily said sadly, "I shouldn't have said it. I'll apologize to him when we catch up to them later. I'll talk to you later though, I have to get to Ancient Runes on the other side of the castle," she said as she rummaged through the notes in her arms, looking for last night's homework.

"It's just you and Remus in that class that I know of right?" he asked, jogging to catch up to her.

She looked at him quizzically before smiling faintly. "Well Remus you would know the most, yes," she said, thinking, "But you'd probably also recognize Isabella, Sarah, Sophie, Ava, and Isabella's twin brother Theodore…"

"Ok, so Ava, Isabella, and Theodore are in Slytherin but where are the others?" he asked, not able to put a house to the names.

"Er, Sophie is in Hufflepuff and I think Sarah is in Ravenclaw, although it might be the other way around, never too sure," she said, a hint of nervousness in her voice that James found odd.

"I thought you were best friends with them?" James inquired. "Wouldn't you know their houses then?"

"I am," Lily let slip. "I mean I was…"

"You are?" James questioned.

Lily stopped in the corridor and looked around for anyone else in sight before gripping onto James and tugging him into the empty classroom behind them.

"I'm still friends with them, all of them, even Isabella and Ava," Lily said softly. "We just can't hang around one another anymore, at least not all at the same time."

James just stared at her.

"Isabella sent me a letter this summer, telling me that her parents were beginning to truly support Voldemort's ideals and visions for the future of Wizarding Society. She told me that she couldn't be friends outright with me anymore because she was expected to act like the rest of the Slytherin's towards people like me. So Sarah, being brilliant, as Isabella had told all of us of what was happening, came up with a plan that once every three weeks we would meet up somewhere in the castle, hidden away from everyone else and just spend the night there, catching up," Lily explained, passing James the note she had been holding onto for the past couple of days.

James read it and recognized the meeting place immediately. "You've found the Room of Requirement?" he asked, amazed.

"At the end of last year actually," she said smiling brightly.

He passed the note back to her. "So that's why you don't lash out at them when they treat you poorly!" James exclaimed.

Lily looked oddly at him. "Wait, what?"

"Peter and Sirius thought something far worse was going on between you and the Slytherin's because you never react to their taunts and you used to be friends, but you reacted to Snivellus' and you were far better friends with him," James explained to her.

She blushed. "I can't keep anything to myself with you all around, can I?" she laughed.

"Probably not," James grinned proudly.

"I should probably work on that for next time though," she said, "Wouldn't want anyone else to think something more was going on."

"If it helps any, I won't tell the boys what you told me," James said sincerely, as they walked back out into the corridor.

"It does," Lily said, "But I don't want them to worry, if that's even possible. I trust your circle of friends not to go blabbing to the whole school, especially any other Slytherin's about what's going on."

"Does Hestia, Marlene or Alice know?"

"No," Lily said quietly. "I want to tell them sometimes, but I'm afraid they wouldn't understand. I mean, they never had the opportunity to get to know any of them before the war picked up, so their opinions of them now probably wouldn't be very high, and they would probably try to convince me that I'll just be an easier target to Slytherin's if I'm sympathetic towards a few of them."

"You've thought about this thoroughly," James commented.

"It's a big deal," Lily said, "Isabella and Ava are in a really tough spot as it is, without anyone thinking they are friends with a mudblood."

"Hey!" James rebutted.

"I'm not putting myself down," she laughed, "It's just fact. But I really must go," Lily said, after glancing down at her watch, "and so do you! See you in the common room after classes!" She gave him a small hug, for understanding all she had told him before she quite literally sprinted down the corridor, hoping to make it to the far tower within the next three minutes.

* * *

><p>"So we were all wrong," James announced when he entered the sixth-year boys dormitory later that day.<p>

Remus who was sitting on his bed reading a book looked up at James quizzically meanwhile Sirius and Peter who had been wrestling on the floor, stopped momentarily to look at him.

"What's going on?" Frank asked, entering the dormitory behind James.

"Prongs here wanted to tell us that we were wrong," Sirius said, sitting down on the edge of his trunk.

"What were you all wrong about, again?" Frank remarked, settling down on his own bed.

"Lily," James said.

"You found out what was happening!?" Peter and Sirius asked him excitedly.

"Yes," James grinned.

"How?" Remus asked, intrigued.

"Well Sirius, you know when you and I were walking with Lily and Alice earlier and Ava and Narcissa bumped into her and said a couple of things," James said.

"Yes and then Alice led me away," Sirius said, bored.

"Anyways I asked Lily what all of that was about and then she let it slip that she was still friends with Ava, and Isabella and the other girls we thought she didn't hang out with anymore," James said.

"So they aren't targeting her?" Peter asked timidly.

"Not at all," James said before launching into everything Lily had told him earlier that day. He watched as his friends reacted to the girls plan to get around house and family judgments along with their reactions to being completely and totally wrong.

"Well for once I am glad we were totally off base with that one," Remus said, settling back down with his book. "I always liked Isabella before hand."

Sirius snickered at that and raised his eyebrows suggestively, but Remus just shoved him off.

"Oh," James said after a few moments, "And you can't tell anyone, not even Alice," he said, specifically to Frank, who nodded in understanding.

"Why exactly?" Peter asked awkwardly.

"Probably because certain members of their group would be subjected to the same kind of torment and isolation within their own families that, Padfoot went through," Remus said.

"You've got my word," Sirius said seriously, "I wouldn't put anyone through that."

"Agreed," the others said unanimously.

"So when are they meeting?" Sirius said a few minutes later, with a tell tale grin on his face.

James and Remus looked at one another in concern. "No, absolutely not," Remus said definitively.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" Sirius protested, stomping his foot.

"I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that you want to sneak into the meeting under the cloak and see what the girls do after hours because unlike their dormitories we can at least get into the room of requirement now that we know what is going on and what to think about as we pace in front of the tapestry," James said, smirking as Sirius' face continued to fall throughout his spiel.

"Fine if you don't want to, I'll just go on my own," Sirius declared.

"Have fun with that," James chuckled, grabbing his bag from the end of his bed.

"How are you planning on sneaking in without the time of their get together and without the invisibility cloak?" Remus asked, amused.

"Prongsie will lend me the cloak, and I have my ways to find out the time," Sirius said.

James shook his head at his friend before he threw the bag over his shoulder and left the room.

"You have to lend it to me!" Sirius called down the stairs after him.

"Fat chance!" James hollered back, only to find a disgruntled and questioning Lily at the bottom of the stairs waiting.

"Must you scream?" she questioned him as they made their way to the portrait hole.

"It wouldn't be nearly as fun of a conversation if we didn't," he said, grinning.

"You will all be the death of me," she muttered.

He smiled. "So are you ready to study?" he asked politely.

"You have to ask me that?" she smirked, nudging him jokingly.

"You're right, I should know better," he said sarcastically.

"Come on," she teased, grabbing his arm, "I'm going to show you to this magical place with books and tables and lights and a breathtaking view of the grounds…"

"I know where the Library is," he said seriously.

"Sure you do…"

* * *

><p>"Did you get the answer to question five?" Sophie asked Lily.<p>

"Check the chapter we had to read last week, and the beginning of the chapter for next, the information for that question is spread out between the two," Lily smiled, before going back to summarizing the remainder of her notes for the week.

"By the way, Lily, how was it having James Potter and Sirius Black as partner's in potions over the past few classes?" Ava asked, looking up from her notes to see what Lily's reaction would be.

The auburn-haired witch continued writing out her answers as she responded. "They were able to carry out the assignments well-enough," she said, with no emotion in her voice despite the redness that had spread over her entire face.

"So they were just alright?" Isabella questioned, sliding onto the couch next to Lily.

The brown haired beauty winked at the others before she started prying Lily's notes and books out of her hands, in the hopes of finally getting the girl to fess up.

"I know I'd be much happier in potions if I had one of them as my partner," Sarah said, smiling giddily.

"And please give us the low down on why you had to be dragged around with them for an entire week last month?" Sophie asked, flopping down onto the pillows that were scattered around the floor.

Lily remained silent.

"If that's how you want to play, we will wait," Sophie said, getting all relaxed into the pillows.

Lily looked up at her friends and sighed outwardly. "Fine," she relented.

"Yes!" Ava said excitedly, hoping onto the couch next to Sarah.

"It all started when Black was throwing things at our window on the morning of Quidditch tryouts, and Marlene and I launched a plan to make them feel like he and Potter had hurt me by throwing such things towards us. Anyways, they figured it out, tracked us down in the hall at breakfast and punished us by ordering our presence at their side for the entire week," Lily told them.

"So is that how you ended up with Potter in potions?" Isabella asked eagerly.

"Basically, although I actually appreciated having him as a partner," Lily admitted.

"Anything to get away from Severus," Sarah commented.

Lily nodded.

"That boy is still moping around the common room," Ava grumbled. "It really is rather annoying."

"He lost a friend, give him a break," Isabella lectured her fellow Slytherin.

"Ava has a point though, Is," Sophie sighed, "He's the one who screwed it up by being one of the junior death eaters and pretending it was all ok."

Lily watched as Isabella and Ava both visibly tensed before she spoke up. "Let's not talk about Snape, or his groupies, or anything else revolving around that," she declared, giving Is a side hug, which she graciously accepted.

"So going back to this potions thing," Sophie said, smiling suspiciously. "If this punishment of yours ended a week after Quidditch tryouts for Gryffindor, why have you still been paired with James Potter in potions?"

Lily blushed visibly. "I guess Slughorn felt as though we made good partners and decided to keep us paired together?" she responded shyly.

"Right," Sarah said sarcastically.

"I'm not inside Slughorn's head, how would I know?" Lily lied.

"You are a horrible liar," Isabella teased. "We're going to find out eventually, tell us now…"

"I don't know what you want me to tell you," Lily said quietly.

"Do you like James Potter?" Isabella asked, once the other girls had started chatting about one of their own classes or another.

"Well I don't despise him as much as I used to," Lily laughed, "He's a very nice boy, and very funny, a nice change of pace from Snape who was always so serious."

"That he is," Isabella agreed.

"But seriously, enough about me and James Potter, it seems as though that is all anyone wants to talk about," Lily sighed.

"Sorry!" Isabella chuckled, holding her hands up in defeat.

"How is your longtime crush though?" Lily asked, turning the table on her friend.

"Dreamy and as unattainable as ever," Isabella sighed, her head falling on Lily's shoulder. "Mum and Dad would never let it happen, especially now. They are supportive of Voldemort but like Sirius' family, they aren't ready themselves to fully commit, but they wouldn't have a problem if Theodore or I did…"

Lily rubbed an arm comfortingly on her friends arm.

"Theo doesn't want to and neither do I, but in the end if it protects our family, and you," Isabella said, hugging Lily tightly, "We would do anything."

"Don't worry about protecting me," the auburn-haired witch said seriously.

Isabella looked at her friend, and smiled a little. "I won't, too much anyways," she said happily, "I already know a couple of people on your side who would never let anything bad touch you if they could help it," she smirked.

Lily looked at her oddly.

"You know who I'm talking about and we already agreed not to talk about him, them, it," Isabella commented, grinning.

"Oh, and as for your Ravenclaw Quidditch player, I think that once this war is over he'll be waiting for you," Lily said reassuringly before adding. "Its not like he hasn't had his eyes on you since fourth year."

"He has not!" Isabella shrieked.

"Is it time to taunt Is about her crush now?" Ava asked, Sarah and Sophie looking up in hope.

"It has been a while…" Sarah remarked.

Isabella rolled her eyes and was about to retort when she saw all of her friends eyes, especially Lily looking so hopeful for some new information. She grumbled loudly.

"Fine, but Sarah, you are next!" she warned, before launching into her tales of her adventures with Jacob, the Ravenclaw Quidditch player who was one of the top in their class, beneath Lily, herself and Snape of course.

Sarah blushed wildly, but agreed to the terms and conditions quickly.


	14. Disappearing Acts

Her bottle green eyes fluttered open just as the sun began shining down on the frosted Hogwarts grounds. She remained lying there on her mountain of pillows for a few moments longer, stifling her laughter when she finally rolled over and saw her friends scattered oddly around their new sanctuary on the seventh floor. Everything inside it was beautiful, with a balcony that looked out onto the lake on the far end opposite a roaring fireplace, which by now had burned down to embers, barely omitting any heat at this early hour.

Lily quietly slithered out from beneath the blankets and tiptoed to where her book bag lay by the door, having dropped it upon entering and being attacked by the four other girls. Hesitantly she unzipped the bag, grabbing her toothbrush and comb before quickly taking out the clothes she had packed. She got ready swiftly, barely making a noise as she moved about the washroom. Lily pinned to the door the note she had hastily written to her friends before she crept out of the room and back into her everyday reality without the girls she had called friends for the past three years.

Slowly, she wound her way through the deserted Hogwarts corridors, embracing the tranquility and peacefulness that came from being one of the few awake at this hour on a Saturday morning no less. The torches that lit the dark corridors in the late hours went out simultaneously when the first beams of morning light started across the stone floors, flooding the corridors with the bright fall sun. The auburn-haired witch paused at the cross-section of two adjoining corridors, deciding which way was best to take. One would lead her towards the Great Hall which would just be letting in the first few guests of the day, whilst the other would lead her towards Gryffindor tower where her friends would still be slumbering for a few hours more. The view of the decorated Quidditch pitch through the window ahead made her decision for her, as it came with the knowledge that the hall would not remain quiet for too much longer if the excitement of the impending Quidditch game had anything to do with it.

The Great Hall was empty when she arrived, minus a few early-risers who were happily munching away on the freshly prepared breakfast as they sat reading that day's edition of the Prophet. Glancing around the room, her jaw dropped ever so slightly when she took notice on the lone figure sitting at the Gryffindor table that on this morning sat nearest the newly roaring fire.

"Hi, Sirius," she greeted, taking a seat across from the dark, curly haired boy.

He took a moment as he tore his eyes away from the paper to look up at his visitor. His face, which had been tense before her arrival visibly relaxed when she smiled at him.

"What brings you here so early, Evans?" he questioned, taking a sip of his pumpkin juice as she grabbed a couple of pieces of toast.

"I could ask you the same," she remarked, grinning before she answered his question. "But I was actually woken up by Ava's restlessness and decided to head down here for a bite before it got too chaotic."

"There's no such thing as too chaotic when it comes to Quidditch," Sirius decreed, making the girl roll her eyes. "How was your party last night? Did you braid each other's hair and gossip about your crushes?"

"I'd say you've watched far too many movies, but you probably haven't," she laughed, "But no, we worked on homework with one another, and then caught up with each other's lives before we crashed around two."

"Caught up on lives… sure," he teased her.

Lily stuck her tongue out at him, he laughed. "It doesn't matter, you'll never find out what we talk about," she taunted him.

"I take that as a challenge," Sirius smirked.

"Maybe it is," Lily retorted, keeping her poker face on as she eyed the boy down over the brim of her cup.

Sirius grinned widely. "It is on then, Evans," he said as he extended his hand towards her. Lily shook it back.

They sat there, eying one another down as they thought about the lengths the other one would go to to win or keep the other away. After Lily had finished her share of breakfast she motioned towards the paper that still lay on the table next to Sirius.

"Could I see that?" she inquired.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders and passed it to her. "There's nothing happy to report in there," he commented as he watched her expression change with each piece of news.

"There never is anymore," she sighed sadly. "Is this what you were looking at when I came in?" she asked him hesitantly; fearful of how he might react to her inquiry.

Sirius eyes looked back and forth between Lily's eyes and the page to which she had pointed.

"You don't have to look at me like that you know," he responded, after nodding that it was indeed the article he had been glancing over. "I've known for a long time now that they were involved in his bidding, I just had hoped that she could be swayed by her sister, Andromeda," Sirius sighed as he looked once again at the portrait of Narcissa and her new husband.

Lily placed the page down on the table, her fingers tracing the headline of the article.

"There are three of them, all girls. Bellatrix is the oldest, married to Rodolphus Lestrange. Death Eaters: the both of them. Then there was Andromeda and then Narcissa," Sirius explained, pointing to a wild haired woman who was accompanied by a tall, solidly built man, both draped in black in a portrait lower on the news spread.

Lily looked more closely at the photo and gulped slightly, something that Sirius didn't fail to notice.

He chuckled for a moment. "She'd be glad to know that people fear her even in picture form."

"Andromeda's not in any of these photos," Lily commented upon closer observation.

"No, I suspect she, like I, wouldn't have been invited," Sirius observed.

"She ended up marrying him, didn't she?" Lily said, a small smile tugging at her lips as she looked up at the boy across from her.

"You remember her?" he asked, astonished.

"She was in her sixth year when we were in first year," Lily smiled fondly, "She showed Severus and I to a couple of classes in the first few days. I remember her and Ted when they went to the ball in their last year," she reminisced, "Hestia, Alice and I had snuck out of the tower to watch them all go in to the Great Hall in their dresses. Ted looked at her like there was no one else in the world, that much I remember."

Sirius, oddly enough smiled at Lily's recount of that night from so many years ago. "Andromeda is the only cousin I ever actually liked," he said happily, "She may have been sorted into Slytherin, but she was never like the rest of them. I was happy for her when she finally got out on her own and married Ted, even if it meant everyone in the family turned against her."

"She was disowned as well?"

Sirius gaped at her, which made Lily blush profusely.

"I'm so sorry, that was terribly rude," she apologized quickly.

"How did you know?" he asked her softly, "I haven't told anyone besides James, Remus and Pete. Not even Frank knows and he lives with us."

"I heard you and James talking behind us in the corridor on the way to class one day, and your general demeanor has been much happier," Lily admitted.

"Did you-"

"No, it's not my tale to tell."

Sirius looked at the girl in front of him in a way he never had before, but she didn't realize as her eyes lingered on the pieces of toast still on her plate.

"Remus was right," he admitted after a while.

Lily looked up at him, confused. "Was right about what?"

"You. He has always told us how remarkable you are, and how kind you are, but I guess having been glued to James' side whenever I've been around you never exactly put you in that light…"

Lily laughed. "Remus is far too kind," she said softly, "And as for my treatment of James, you cannot deny that he provoked me more often than not, and he deserved, for the most part what he had coming for him."

"I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with you in case any of this gets back to James!" Sirius made known.

Lily giggled. "Ok, ok."

"Andromeda has a kid now," Sirius said, starting the conversation up again. "She's a little nightmare."

"I'm sure she's not that terrible," Lily laughed.

"You try babysitting her!" Sirius argued, "She's a metamorphagus."

"See I think that would be a much more entertaining time than when I used to babysit some of the neighbors kids over summer holidays," she remarked.

"What would be more entertaining?" Remus questioned the two as he, James, Peter, and Frank invaded Lily and Sirius' quiet space.

"Lily thinks it would be a grand time babysitting Nymphadora," Sirius smirked, knowing full well how his friends felt about that adventure.

Remus and James went wide-eyed just as Peter hit his head hard against the wooden table.

"If you value your life you will never, ever agree to help Padfoot babysit that demon child!" Remus shrieked at her.

"I won't!" Lily shrieked back, holding her hands up in defeat.

"All ready for the game, captain?" Sirius asked James once everyone had grabbed their food and piled it sky high on their plates.

James gulped down some pumpkin juice before he turned to Sirius and smiled mischievously. "I'm always ready to kick another houses arses in Quidditch," he said triumphantly.

Lily watched the boys as they started talking strategy and statistics from last season for a while but after ten minutes or so she slipped away from the table unnoticed to go wake up Hestia to finish their sign and to get ready in their Gryffindor gear for the game.

* * *

><p>"GO, GO Gryffindor! GO, GO Gryffindor!" Lily, Remus, Peter, Hestia, Alice and Frank along with the rest of Gryffindor house cheered as James, Marlene and the other chaser flew closely over their heads, weaving around the stands as they made their way towards the Ravenclaw goal posts.<p>

James faked a shot before he swiftly threw the ball to the speeding Marlene behind him who in turn threw the Ravenclaw keeper off guard and sent the quaffle flying past him into one of their goals.

"Way to go Marls!" the three girls shrieked loudly as they shook their sign against the stands in front of them.

"That makes the score 110-80 for Gryffindor!" the student announcer announced loudly to the stadium.

The entire Gryffindor section and some of the Hufflepuffs cheered loudly at the announcement before beginning their chants once again.

Once or twice Sirius flew by them, hovering at the side chatting with his friends while his partner kept up with their work, but he would soon fly off when James hollered at him having noticed his absence.

"Duty calls," he would say, winking at Lily and Hestia before he jetted away.

"Go James!" Remus hollered loudly when James had seamlessly intercepted a Ravenclaw pass in front of their own goal posts and was able to quickly put another one past their keeper.

The game was almost three hours in, the late October cold creeping onto the grounds causing the onlookers to huddle closer together as they continued supporting their teams.

"He's spotted it!" Frank announced excitedly just as the game was reaching the three and a half hour mark.

Lily, Hestia and Alice jumped up from their seats excitedly, shrieking and shouting as they watched both seekers dive in front of them for the snitch that had just passed by them. All six Gryffindor sixth years leaned dangerously over the barrier, eagerly anticipating the turn out of the chase. Remus and Lily nearly toppled over the edge when they saw the Gryffindor seeker pull out from the dive and victoriously fly by them, the Snitch raised proudly in his hand.

"We won!" The girls all screamed at the boys before looking for their friend in the sky who was flying excitedly towards the rest of the team at center pitch.

"Well come on then!" Peter yelled to them as he charged down the nearby stairs with the rest of their house to congratulate the team.

* * *

><p>The Gryffindor common room was a buzz that night, with everyone crowded in its cramped quarters talking animatedly about their first big win of the season. The signs that had been hung around the pitch were now suspended from the tall ceiling thanks to a few charms done by Remus. The five sixth year boys had skipped dinner and had taken to preparing the common room for the celebration instead, Sirius and Peter having gone to Hogsmeade to get some butterbeers and firewhiskey from the Three Broomsticks for their celebration. James and Frank had in the meantime gone down to the kitchen to convince the house-elves to make them some snacks for their party, to which the elves happily obliged having grown fond of the boys over the years.<p>

James and Remus sat on one of the tables, a little way from the action of the party as they watched their housemates urge Sirius to do more shots, ensuring that he would make an ever greater fool of himself.

"He'll never learn, will he?" Remus laughed, shaking his head as he looked on at his friend who stood in the center of the room.

"It's Sirius, what do you think?" James chuckled back, taking a chug of butterbeer.

They stayed there chatting, watching people as they moved around and as the younger years started heading off to bed. It wasn't until then that James was actually able to spot Lily in the common room. He thought up until then that maybe she had escaped to the library or to Slughorn's classroom for the night, but his smile visibly widened when he saw that she had a drink in her hand and was talking excitedly to Hestia as she laughed.

Hestia caught the two boys staring out of the corner of her eye.

"Come, we have some people to congratulate!" she ordered Lily, dragging her through the crowds.

Lily smiled when they passed Sirius who winked at them before throwing them both another drink. The girls caught them and laughed before continuing their pursuit, but not after shouting congratulations at one of their beaters.

But Lily's grin widened, like James' had not long ago when she finally spotted him and Remus just a little ways away. Hestia reached James first and engulfed him in a hug, screaming congratulatory phrases in his ear.

"You've had a couple of drinks, haven't you Hestia?" Remus chuckled, messing up the girl's hair as she stepped away from James.

"Maybe a tad," she admitted before she burst out laughing.

"You played amazingly," Lily said in James' ear as she hugged him.

"Thanks," he said softly, looking her in the eyes when she finally pulled away from him. "I'm glad you put that to good use," he said, noting that she was wearing his practice jersey he had given her all those weeks ago.

"I finally had an actual Quidditch shirt, I had to wear it," she smiled. "But I should have given it back to you," she said, not moments later making to take it off.

But James stopped her. "No, no, it looks good on you," he smiled as he tugged it back down.

Lily just smiled at him, taking him in for a few moments longer before she turned to listen to Hestia as she congratulated him yet again, the excitement of the match still radiating from her.

"Couldn't have done so without your cheering," he said, smiling at her. "I could hear you all throughout the game!"

Hestia and Lily both laughed and excitedly told him how thrilling the whole game was for a while before Hestia noticed Marlene across the room and shrieked to Lily that they had to go say hi. Lily of course, having had a couple of drinks herself did not protest and instead flung her head back in laughter for the umpteenth time as they scurried away from the boys, back through the crowd.

"I don't think I've ever seen either one of them in such a state," Remus said, shaking his head.

"They both are always so serious and invested in their studies," James agreed, "Not that there is anything wrong with that," he added after seeing Remus fake hurt.

Remus grinned.

The two sat there watching the girls once again from across the room, but Remus was also watching James as he stared longingly at Lily.

He took a swig of his drink before he spoke. "You know, it's odd but I thought for sure that when you and Sirius told Marlene and Lily that they had to be stuck with you two for an entire week that that was how Sirius planned to get Lily to finally go out with you."

James looked up at his friend and shrugged. "I think Sirius was planning something, but it obviously worked for him," James said, pointing to where Sirius and Marlene were locking lips in the middle of the room for all to see.

"I am so glad they aren't playing hard to get anymore," Remus sighed contently.

"You and I both know they will never be done with that," James said knowingly.

"Unfortunately. I was just hoping that maybe our last two years would contain a lot less bickering between all of us than the rest," Remus admitted.

James shook his head and slapped a hand on Remus' shoulder. "If anything, it's going to get worse with all the rising tensions with the war," James commented seriously.

Remus nodded his head in agreement, realizing the validity of his friend's statement, but he shook the unwelcome feeling off almost immediately, turning to smile at James. "It's a party, for your team, no more depressing thoughts!" Remus told him, pushing James towards the rest of the room.

* * *

><p>The party in the Gryffindor common room could be heard from floors away, much to the dismay of the portraits that occupied the nearby corridors.<p>

"Can't you tell them to turn that noise down?" an elderly gentleman asked Lily as she passed by. She laughed a little before shaking his head.

"You know that not even I have the power to make the boys throwing the party quiet down even in the slightest," Lily told him. The man shook his head, knowingly, having met the Marauders more times than most on their way to the kitchens at night.

"I can't say I didn't try," the man chuckled before going back to the painting he was creating before Lily had come along.

"No you can't," Lily agreed, "Have a goodnight, Sir," she added, before continuing on her walk.

The noise of the party faded the further and further she walked. The moonlight that lit the grounds caused Lily to pause for a moment or two as she took in the grounds she had been lucky to call home for the past six years.

"Potter's biggest fan now?" Snape's voice sounded out from behind her.

"Why should it matter to you if I was?" Lily bantered back, spinning around to face the boy who was still lingering in the shadows.

"I just find it odd," he told her bitterly, stepping forward, the light casting shadows on his face, giving him an even more eerie presence.

"It seems everyone thinks my life is odd nowadays," Lily remarked, not necessarily to Severus. "But seriously, why are you here? I told you to leave me alone, multiple times. Do you need to hear it again?" she growled at him, the alcohol not affecting her temper in the slightest.

Severus stepped closer to her until he was but a foot away from her. "You still didn't answer my question," he pointed out to her, gripping her arm tightly. "Latest Potter groupie now? How are the meetings? I've always wondered what they talked about."

Lily glared fiercely at him. "I don't owe you of all people any explanation," she hissed at him, jerking her arm away from him.

"You can't expect to walk around in his jersey and not answer any questions," he hissed back, tugging on the jersey.

Lily took a few steps away from him. "Well no one in Gryffindor felt the need to interrogate me over it."

"That's because they can watch this creepy infatuation unwind first hand, they don't need the gossip, they are already subscribed to the channel free of charge," he argued.

"Not that I owe you any explanation," Lily barked at him, "But he gave me this to wear once and I found it this morning and thought it would be a suitable thing to wear to a Quidditch game. Don't you think that a Quidditch jersey for Gryffindor house was a suitable thing to wear to a Gryffindor Quidditch game?"

Severus glared at her.

"Speechless, well isn't this a first," Lily smirked before starting off down the hall away from him.

"I'd watch your back if I was you," he growled to her.

Lily spun around and stalked back to him. "Is that a threat? Are you threatening me now? Is that what all this has come to?" Lily gasped at him. "I did nothing but try to help you and now you are threatening me!"

He gripped her arms tightly within his grasp, shaking her as he did. "Get involved with him and he will pay. You don't like people getting hurt, I know that much. So if you want to keep him and all of your other pureblood friends safe in this war, I would cut ties with them, and cut ties with them now. It's only going to make them bigger targets. So Potter and Black and Jones, McKinnon, and Prewett, sever your ties with them, or else they will get hurt. I'd stay away from Lupin too if you know what's good for you."

"Remus Lupin, is a far better person than you will ever be, no matter what makes him different in your eyes. Just get away from me!" Lily shrieked at him, pushing him away from her.

"Don't say I didn't warm you," he reminded her eerily before he shrunk back into the shadows, completely blocked from sight.

Lily gasped for breath. She fell down to the floor, sliding against the wall, hugging her knees tightly to her. She didn't know what was wrong. She was so much braver than how she felt right now in this moment. Right now she felt weak and useless, like she would never be of any help to anyone in this impending war. She knew there was a truth to what Severus had said, about there being a danger to her remaining friends with the people who had a solid chance of making it through this war unscathed if she wasn't a part of their lives. She knew she had to stay away from them, and that she had to do it slowly so they wouldn't be quick to catch on, although she knew that would be a problem no matter how she did it.

She didn't know when the tears began falling, or when it started feeling as though she could no longer breathe, like her airways had been closed off entirely.

"Lily!" a soft voice gasped, but she couldn't tell who it was, her vision too blurry. She knew they were coming closer, and that they had taken a seat next to her, gathering her tightly into their arms. She knew it wasn't one of the boys, their arms were war too skinny, but she knew that it was someone who she had hugged before, for this felt far too familiar. "Lily, breathe, whatever it is, you are going to be ok," the voice stated calmly as they continued to brush through her curls.

Lily sat up, wiping her eyes free of tears.

"I'm sorry," Lily sighed when she finally regained her breath. "What are you doing here?" she asked, trying to smile but failing miserably.

Sarah sighed, still rubbing Lily's arm comfortingly as she answered. "It's my night to patrol, David's down the hall somewhere," she told her friend simply. "But why I am here is not important in the least. I saw Severus walking around just a short while ago. Did he do this to you?"

Lily shook her head at first but then nodded before going back to shaking her head again. "I don't know why I am crying, here of all places," Lily lied, sitting up, fake smiling.

Sarah helped Lily stand up, linking arms with her friend before leading her down the hall. "Lily, seriously what is wrong? I have never seem you like this, ever."

"I'm a danger to my friends," Lily blurted out after minutes of uninterrupted silence.

Sarah stopped them in their track. "Lily you and I both know that doesn't make any sense," she reasoned with the auburn-haired witch.

"But it does," Lily said seriously, "This war is about blood purity and if my friends who are pureblood have anything to do with me, Voldemort and his followers are going to label them as sympathizers and have it out for them and I can't put my friends in that position."

"But you can't just cut them off without giving them the chance to make the decision for themselves," Sarah reasoned, "Or at least give them the same chance that Isabella and Ava gave us."

Lily knew she was right. "It's just easier this way. I have to go," Lily said, before giving Sarah a hug, thanking her before she darted off back to the common room.

"You'll do the right thing!" Sarah called to her.

"What was that about?" David, Sarah's fellow prefect, asked as he came up behind her.

"A certain Slytherin told her that she is a danger to her pureblood friends if she remains being friends with them," Sarah explained as they continued on their rounds.

"I understand that," David said, sympathizing with Lily's situation, shocking Sarah.

"What? How?"

"I mean, there's a validity to the thought. This war is going to get a whole lot worse before it can get better, and being a muggle-born puts you at risk. Lily's a Gryffindor, she is brave and she is going to do whatever protects the people the she loves. I would do the same. We would both protect our friends even if it means making ourselves hurt more in the process," David explained.

"But shouldn't we get the chance to fight to keep you guys in our lives. I mean I'm a half-blood, so I'm kind of neutral but shouldn't I get the chance to fight for both of your lives? Fight to be your friend no matter what?" Sarah refuted.

David shrugged. "I don't know," he sighed, "I just want everyone to be safe in the end."

* * *

><p>"Lily, where are you going?" Marlene hissed at her from across the table.<p>

The Great Hall was relatively silent as most of the sixth and seventh years sat studying in the late autumn afternoon. The chill of the impending winter was beginning to creep around the grounds, causing the students to pull out the winter cloaks much sooner than they had in many years. Lily looked around the room for the supervising teacher, her eyes landing on Professor Varrowe across the hall. She quickly gathered up her quills, shoving them into her bag before grabbing her notebooks and shoving the parchments she had been working on into her textbook.

She just smiled at Marlene and Alice before scrambling off the bench, handing the Professor her notebook before exiting the hall.

"Is it just me or has she been absent or running off a lot more since the Quidditch match two weeks ago?" Marlene whispered to Alice, attempting to avoid glares from Verrowe who terrified the both of them even though Alice wasn't in his class.

Alice looked around before she answered. "I've noticed it too," Alice responded quietly.

"We need to get to the bottom of this," Marlene stated, slamming her notes closed and shoving everything in her bag.

"Oh, so right now," Alice said to herself, following Marlene's lead as they slipped out of the Great Hall without too much disturbance.

The girls walked briskly back to the dormitory to drop off their stuff, where they found Hestia practicing her charms work on her bed.

"Hello to you too," she remarked, smiling at them as they threw their bags onto their beds.

"Is Lily here?" Marlene asked, slumping back on her bed.

"Er, no?" Hestia responded. "She has some prefect stuff or tutoring or something," she added, pointing to Lily's schedule that was pinned neatly to the wall next to the redhead's bed.

Alice scrambled across the room and looked over the schedule. "She'll be gone for a couple of hours yet," she informed the girls.

"Why are we so interested in Lily's schedule all of a sudden?" Hestia questioned the two.

"Do you think that Lily's been trying to avoid us?" Alice asked Hestia, taking a seat on the end of the brunette's bed.

"Oh not again," Hestia sighed, covering her face with her pillow. "You're not going to be like Peter again when he kept rambling a couple of weeks ago about how odd something was with Lily."

"No, this is completely different!" Marlene exclaimed, sitting up.

"Ok, explain then," Hestia sighed, settling in.

"She's never here anymore, and whenever we come into the library or study hall or the Great Hall to eat she stays for a few seconds before she runs off, claiming she has something to do. No one, not even Lily is that busy," Alice reasoned.

"So you're hoping that I know what she has been getting up to?" Hestia asked once Alice was done rambling.

"Basically."

"Unfortunately I don't have a clue," Hestia told them. "But maybe you could ask the guys, maybe she hasn't been running away from them."

Alice and Marlene grinned before jumping across the beds to run out the door. Hestia called after them, scrambling to get to her feet and slip on her shoes before taking off after them.

* * *

><p>"So how's Marlene been treating you?" Peter asked Sirius, grinning.<p>

Sirius flung a pillow at the small boy. Remus shook his head. Peter was completely oblivious.

"You didn't answer me!" Peter complained when he got up off the floor.

"Peter, just shut-up!" Sirius yelled.

Peter looked around at his friends, until his eyes fell on James. The raven-haired boy was sitting with his head at the bottom of his bed, his feet resting on his pillows as one hand supported the back of the neck. His other hand was playing with a golden snitch absentmindedly.

"What's wrong with him?" Peter asked Remus directly, not wanting to bug Sirius again.

"I thought everything was good," James said, finally speaking up, although he wasn't speaking to anyone in particular.

Peter, Remus, and Sirius stopped what they were doing and just looked at their friend, concerned and waiting for him to continue.

"I thought we were getting past everything, that we were finally friends!" James growled.

The boys still didn't speak.

"Was it all a hallucination?" James asked, finally rolling over to face his friends, although his eyes remained focus on the floating snitch.

"No," Sirius and Remus responded simultaneously, but a soft knocking on the door, followed by a louder bang, interrupted any further comments.

"Pete, you're closest," Sirius grumbled.

Peter climbed off his bed and shuffled to the door, only opening it a crack to see who was there.

"Peter is it just you or are the rest of the guys in there too?" Alice asked calmly.

Peter turned to look at his friends, all of whom had stood up after hearing the girl's quiet voice at the door. Sirius and Remus looked to James who shrugged in response. The other two motioned that Peter could let them come in.

"Yeah, they are here," Peter said, stepping aside to let them in.

James watched the door in anticipation, hoping that maybe she would be there but was let down the moment Peter closed the door behind the three girls.

"To what do we owe this visit?" Sirius asked merrily as Marlene took a seat on his bed, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Is he ok?" Hestia questioned, noticing James' demeanor.

"He will be," Remus replied.

"We just wanted to know if Lily was avoiding you boys as well?" Alice asked, jumping straight to the point.

James looked up at them. "As well?" he said, a smile slowly returning to his face.

"I'll take that as a yes?" Alice responded, looking at the boy oddly.

"See it wasn't just you, Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed, crossing the room to give his friend a slap on the back.

"Did we miss something?" Hestia muttered to Alice and Remus.

"Later," Remus replied, laughing at his two friends as they did a little dance.

"This is useless," Marlene cried, falling back against Sirius' pillows.

"Wait what was the question again?" Peter piped up, having been one of the only ones to hear Marlene's comment.

"Has Lily been avoiding you guys?" Marlene stated again.

"Yes!" James practically yelled causing everyone to cover his or her ears.

"Tone it down there, big guy," Sirius chuckled.

"So its not just us," Hestia concluded.

"She says she has something to do every time we see her," James explained to Hestia.

"Same here."

"And it's not prefect meetings like she claims," Sirius said, adding his two cents, "Because Remus isn't gone half as much as she is."

"Also she isn't tutoring all the time because that takes place in the library," Remus concluded.

"And she hasn't been with Slughorn because we've seen him out and about when she has said she was doing work with him."

"So that leaves us with…?" Alice questioned the group.

Marlene sighed. "Absolutely nothing, except that now we know she's been avoiding all of us…"

"Well not actually," Peter said quietly.

All heads turned to look at him.

"What?" Marlene and Sirius shrieked.

"She hasn't been running away from me. She was helping me with Charms homework just last Tuesday, and she was studying in the library at the same table as me a couple of times last week, although now that you mention it when Remus came in she did get up to leave saying she had to go get stuff for Slughorn," Peter rambled.

"No offense, Peter, really," Hestia sighed, "But why are you the only person she's talked to recently?"

"She's talked to other people," Peter stated.

"Who?" Alice pestered him.

"She's made some small talk with Sarah Gawrndry and she was sitting with David, the Ravenclaw sixth year prefect," Peter claimed.

Remus checked his calendar. "They are both patrolling tonight!" he shouted, showing everyone the Prefect rotunda.

"And they were both patrolling on the night before Lily began her disappearing acts all the time," Alice pointed out.

"Hunt them down?" Marlene suggested.

"Meet back here after dinner," Sirius said, speaking for the boys.

"See you then!" Hestia agreed just as the girls left the room.

Sirius and Remus turned to James who was happier than they had seen him in weeks. "Well at least now you know it wasn't something you did," Remus told him comfortingly.

"You're right," James said, smiling slightly. "But I still don't understand why she would be avoiding all of us. Even Hestia. That one shocks me."

"It shocks us all," Remus concluded.

"But that is why we are tracking down the Ravenclaw's tonight," Sirius reminded him. "We're going to get to the bottom of this."

* * *

><p>"What are you all doing out of your common room? Besides Remus that is," David asked when the majority of the sixth-year Gryffindor's came running down the hall towards Sarah and himself.<p>

The Gryffindor's took a few seconds to regain their breath, having sprinted from a ways a way after being spotted by Filch's cat.

"You were the last ones to probably talk to her before she started acting all strange!" Peter accused them, completely jumping the gun, which earned him a slap on the back of the head from Sirius.

Sarah and David looked at one another before turning back to the group, eyebrows raised. "Come again?" Sarah asked calmly.

"Sarah or David, have you talked to Lily much in recent weeks?" Hestia asked the two prefects.

"A few words here and there," Sarah responded still questioning why they were so concerned.

"We've been studying almost every night," David answered afterwards, causing all eyes to go to him.

"What has been going on with Lily?" Hestia asked, her eyes pleading for a useful answer.

"She actually went through with it," Sarah side, placing a hand on her head.

"Went through with what exactly?" James piped up.

"This has to do with when you were last patrolling, doesn't it?" Marlene suggested.

"Did she talk to you about it?" Sarah asked David, completely ignoring the others.

"I told her I understood why she felt the need to push everyone away and that I have been doing the same thing to an extent," David sighed.

Sarah slapped his arm. "Why would you do that?" she shrieked at him.

"She needed a friend!" he retorted.

"She has friends!" Sarah exclaimed, "And they are freaking out!" she added, motioning to the Gryffindor's, most of whom were trying to follow along with the argument taking place in front of them.

"Sarah," Hestia sighed, gaining the girl's attention.

"I'm sorry, you're worried and I am arguing," Sarah apologized before launching into the conversation that she and Lily had had all those weeks ago. "I tried to tell her to give all of you the chance to fight for what you wanted to and that she shouldn't push you in the direction she seems fit-"

"She thought it was the best way to protect all of you from getting hurt in the war," David explained, trying to help them see reason for Lily's rash actions.

"Right," Sarah said, before continuing on, "But that's Lily. She's always trying to do what is best for others and she's pushing herself aside by following through with this idea that severing all your relationships will help you make it through this war."

"I'm not sure if this makes her selfish or not," Marlene wondered out loud.

"Who told her to break her ties with us?" Sirius demanded to know.

"My guess was Severus as he was the last person I saw in the castle, besides David before I found Lily that night," Sarah told them all.

Sirius', James', and Marlene's and Alice's eyes went very dark, very quickly surrounding their nearby friends.

"We should keep patrolling," Sarah said, walking around the group with David in tow before she turned around to face the Gryffindor's again. "I don't know where she is, but when you do find her, which I am most certain you will, don't all attack her at once. Or at all. Just act normal and then the next time she goes to leave or disappear, stop her and tell her that you want to be her friends no matter what war is going on. But if you tell her that make sure that you mean it. Don't say it now and then later change your mind when you realize that maybe being friends with a muggle born isn't good for your chance of survival in this war."

"She wouldn't come back from that if you did," David told them sadly before both of the Ravenclaw's continued on their way.

The Gryffindor's were silenced by Sarah's speech and what David had added afterwards. It took a few minutes but the sixth-years finally regrouped and decided it would be best if they would head back to the common room before Filch caught them. James stopped Sirius when they were just around the corner from the Gryffindor portrait hole.

"Do you have the map?" he asked in a hushed tone, looking around to make sure none of the others were listening in.

"Yeah, yeah I have it," Sirius said, tugging it out from his back pocket, shoving it into James' hand. "Go find her," he added, grinning at his friend before following the others in.

James looked around before pointing his wand at the blank parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he muttered, watching as the castle started appearing on the page, all of its students and staff along with it. "Come on, Lily, where are you?" he muttered to himself as his eyes searched the names of all the castle's occupants, looking in the places he thought she would be most likely to be. When he finally spotted her name in one of the nearby towers he smiled widely.

"Mischief managed," he said quickly, putting the map in his back pocket before taking off to where she was hiding.

* * *

><p>"I've always liked this view," James said, startling Lily.<p>

Lily looked up from where she was perched on the stairs, her homework spread out around her. She saw his outline in the dimly lit archway, and stood up.

"How did you-" she started but he closed the distance between them.

"You should know by now that Hogwarts is a magical place," he teased, which made her laugh for a second before Snape's warning came back to the forefront of her mind.

"I should be going to bed," she said quickly, looking at her watch, "I didn't realize the time."

James grabbed a hold of her arm though, stopping her from gathering her things.

"James," she breathed. "Please."

"No," he said firmly, "I'm not going to stop being your friend because you think it's going to get me killed in this war. You and I finally got on the same page this year and I didn't go through all those years of us yelling at one another, or rather you yelling at me and comparing me to the giant-squid, to have you throw it all the way trying to protect me."

Lily tilted her head, wondering how on earth he had found out.

"Sarah and David told us," James told her, reading her mind.

"James, I can't risk losing you guys because of your relationship with me," Lily sighed, taking a seat on her step.

James sat down next to her, sighing. "Lily, you can't make that choice for me," he told her, placing a finger under her chin so her eyes would finally meet his. "My family, my parents already openly oppose Voldemort and when I get out of here I will stand beside them and stand up for what I believe in. And what I believe in is you."

Lily hugged him tightly, her tears soaking his t-shirt.

"You will never lose me, Lils, no matter how hard you may try, and you have tried," he whispered into her hair that he continued to run his fingers through until her breathing had evened out.

"Does everyone else know?" Lily asked when she finally pulled away.

"They do, but they aren't going to harass you about it," he assured her. "Come with me," he said, extending his hand to her after he had gathered all of her things up into her bag and threw it over his shoulder.

Lily accepted his hand and he pulled her up. He held her hand all the way back to the tower where all their friends were waiting for them by the fire.

"Hey," Alice said, smiling at the sight of one of her best friends.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry I never gave you guys a chance to chose," Lily sighed, still gripping James' hand tightly as she apologized to them all. "I would have been upset if it was the other way around, so I'm sorry and I hope you can forgive me," she said, finally looking up at all her friends.

Hestia, Alice and Marlene rushed to her first, pulling her in for one of their signature group hugs, finally causing James to release her hand from his. James went to sit next to Sirius on the couch as the boys watched the girls reconcile.

"Good job, mate," Sirius said to James alone, still watching the girls. "I don't know how you did it, but good job."

"Thanks," James said, his eyes still glued to her.

"James?" Hestia said softly, settling down next to him.

"Hey Hestia," he smiled at her.

"I just wanted to thank-you for Marlene, Alice and myself," she said quietly so Lily wouldn't hear. "We don't know what you had to do to get her back here but thank-you for whatever you did. We didn't know how we were going to convince her that we cared enough to stick around no matter what, but thanks to you we don't need to," she told him, smiling. Hestia hugged all the boys before she went back to Lily who was laughing as Marlene told her about how she and Sirius had narrowly escaped being caught by Filch last weekend.

The girls eventually settled back down by the boys, Lily taking a place on the floor near Peter, who gave the girl a hug as soon as she came near. James watched as they chatted for a while and as Lily attempted to explain a concept that had been bugging him for the past week. He was amazed at how quickly she had bounced back, but he was grateful none-the-less, a feeling that filled his whole body once again when she finally looked up at him, smiling radiantly before she returned to her conversation with Peter and Remus.

Hestia and Alice pulled James into their conversation when they started to discuss the places they felt were inappropriate for Marlene and Sirius to snog when they were around.

"And nothing in either dorm rooms," James added, laughing when he saw Sirius' expression of shock, "The rest of us need to be able to sleep," he explained.

"Agreed!" Lily, Peter and Remus called, having heard the tail end of that conversation.

"I love you all but I am going up to bed," Lily declared, standing up, grinning down at them. "See you at breakfast?"

They all nodded. "I think I'm going to bed too," Remus yawned.

Peter agreed and scrambled up to his feet. Lily gave them both hugs, apologizing again before they went to their dorms.

Hestia and Alice also bid everyone goodnight, telling Lily as they passed that they would see her upstairs.

James stood up, walking Lily towards the stairs, telling Marlene and Sirius that they would see them tomorrow, before the two love-birds cuddled up on the couch and began yet another snogging session.

"It's hard to believe that they made it past all that bickering," Lily laughed as she and James watched them awkwardly for a moment.

He shook his head. "I just hope one day I can get all the bad mental images they've so nicely provided out of my head," he joked.

"James," Lily said softly, "Thank-you for not giving up." She hugged him tightly, her head resting in the crook of his neck.

"Never," he whispered back to her, holding her tightly against him.

She smiled at him, stepping back before she ran up the stairs to bed.

* * *

><p>Please, please, please review if you have time. I value your feedback! Also I know I said Narcissa was at school in the last chapter but I am going to fix that as soon as I have time. She's not in school, just to clarify. :)<p> 


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